ReviewBrain sciences2021
Brain Activation Changes While Walking in Adults with and without Neurological Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Studies.
Review in Brain sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- The relationship between motor and cognitive performance and cortical activity in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review of functional near-infrared spectroscopy studies.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based task paradigms in stroke rehabilitation.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Alterations in brain functional connectivity in patients with mild cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis of functional near-infrared spectroscopy studies.Brain and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- Relationship between motor performance and cortical activity of older neurological disorder patients with dyskinesia using fNIRS: A systematic review.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Pooled it
- Brain activation of the PFC during dual-task walking in stroke patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of functional near-infrared spectroscopy studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation improves gait and cortical activity in Parkinson's disease: A pilot randomized study.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2023Trial
- The effects of cognitive-motor and motor-motor dual tasks on gait performance and dynamic stability in older adults with and without sarcopenia: a cross-sectional study.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Prefrontal Cortex Oxygenation Dynamics During Walking in Patients with Acute Stroke.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Article
- Effects of real-time visual feedback (D-WALL) on neuromuscular control in healthy adults: an fNIRS study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Prefrontal cortex oxygenation dynamics during dual-task walking in independently ambulatory patients with acute stroke: a comparison with healthy older adults.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Age-related differences in activities of daily living among older Chinese adults.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
- Neural evidence for attentional resource allocation to postural control using brain-body imaging.Behavioural brain research · 2025Article
- Phantom for standardization in functional near-infrared spectroscopy, part 1: implementation and usage.Neurophotonics · 2025Article
- The effects of protocol factors and participant characteristics on functional near-infrared spectroscopy data quality after stroke.Neuroimage. Reports · 2025Article
- Neural Oscillatory Mechanisms Underlying Step Accuracy: Integrating Microstate Segmentation with eLORETA-Independent Component Analysis.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Brain activity during cognitive-motor tasks in older adults with cognitive frailty: a fNIRS study.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- A compact time-domain diffuse optical tomography system for cortical neuroimaging.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Cortical activation changes in supratentorial stroke patients during posture-cognition dual task.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Disability Moderates Dual Task Walking Performance and Neural Efficiency in Older Adults With Multiple Sclerosis.Neurorehabilitation and neural repair · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
(1) Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provides a useful tool for monitoring brain activation changes while walking in adults with neurological disorders. When combined with dual task walking paradigms, fNIRS allows for changes in brain activation to be monitored when individuals concurrently attend to multiple tasks. However, differences in dual task paradigms, baseline, and coverage of cortical areas, presents uncertainty in the interpretation of the overarching findings. (2) Methods: By conducting a systematic review of 35 studies and meta-analysis of 75 effect sizes from 17 studies on adults with or without neurological disorders, we show that the performance of obstacle walking, serial subtraction and letter generation tasks while walking result in significant increases in brain activation in the prefrontal cortex relative to standing or walking baselines. (3) Results: Overall, we find that letter generation tasks have the largest brain activation effect sizes relative to walking, and that significant differences between dual task and single task gait are seen in persons with multiple sclerosis and stroke. (4) Conclusions: Older adults with neurological disease generally showed increased brain activation suggesting use of more attentional resources during dual task walking, which could lead to increased fall risk and mobility impairments. PROSPERO ID: 235228.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.