Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 50, Issue 5 P272-P277, Copyright © 1995 by The Gerontological Society of America
Neuropsychological predictors of complex obstacle avoidance in healthy older adults
CC Persad, B Giordani, HC Chen, JA Ashton-Miller, NB Alexander, CS Wilson, S Berent, K Guire and AB Schultz
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, USA.
Global cognitive impairment in older adults has been associated with a
greater risk of falling, and tripping has been implicated as an important
factor in a large percentage of these falls. In order to evaluate the role
of specific cognitive domains in tripping and falling, 23 healthy older
adults completed basic and complex obstacle avoidance tasks, as well as a
battery of neuropsychological tests. Using multiple regression analysis, a
select pattern of neuropsychological measures was found to predict the
decrement in performance evident as avoidance task complexity increased.
Whereas measures of problem solving, response inhibition, general anxiety,
and variability in attention were found to be significant predictors (in
that order) of the relative decline in successful obstacle avoidance,
measures of visuo-spatial discrimination and memory did not.
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