ArticleCNS neuroscience & therapeutics2026
Impacts of Cognitive Load and Task Initiation Timing on Gait Performance in Parkinson's Disease: A Dual-Task Paradigm Study.
Article in CNS neuroscience & therapeutics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGait impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD), especially under dual-task conditions, contributes to falls and reduced quality of life. Although the impact of cognitive load has been explored, the effect of the cognitive task's initiation timing relative to walking is unclear. We investigated how variations in cognitive load and the timing of task initiation affect gait performance in PD patients.
methodsTwelve PD patients and 11 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) completed single-task walking and two arithmetic cognitive tasks (serial-5, serial-7). In dual-task trials, the cognitive task either preceded gait initiation (cognitive-first; C5, C7) or followed it (motor-first; M5, M7). Gait speed, cycle parameters, and inter-limb coordination were measured. Cognitive performance was primarily quantified as the answering speed. This exploratory study analyzed the dual-task data using linear mixed-effects models (LMM).
resultsIn PD patients, gait speed was selectively reduced both by higher cognitive load and by initiating the cognitive task before walking (cognitive-first), whereas HCs showed no such effects. Inter-limb coordination of the lower limbs was reduced by higher cognitive load and, in PD patients, by the cognitive-first condition. The cognitive answering speed differed by task load but not by group.
conclusionGait in PD patients is particularly vulnerable when a high-load cognitive task is initiated before walking, suggesting that both the cognitive demand and the timing of task onset modulate dual-task interference. These findings may guide tailored dual-task assessments and rehabilitation strategies for PD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.