Process-based interference between cognitive control and continuous sensorimotor tasks: an event-related approach in the body balance domain (INCOSEER)

• Applicants: Dr. Leif Johannsen; Professorin Dr. Andrea Kiesel; Professor Dr. Hermann Müller
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517439747

This proposed 36-month research project will investigate process interference between cognitive control and the control of body balance during quiet standing. It is a well-established observation that engagement in a secondary cognitive task affects control of body balance in a multitasking situation. Despite efforts stretching over more than two decades of research, the scientific understanding has been advanced only gradually, and only relatively unspecific resource competition accounts have been put forward as mechanistic models of cognitive-balance interference. We argue that methodological shortcomings of traditional multitasking approaches impose limitations on the level of detail that can be captured by process models of interference. Previous cognitive-motor multitasking research based the selection of secondary cognitive tasks predominantly on considerations of cognitive task difficulty but not on specific theoretical considerations concerning underlying processes. As an additional limitation, these studies used to integrate task performance in the cognitive and balance domains across time scales of at least several seconds duration. We will pursue a novel, event-related approach with high temporal resolution at sub-second level, which focusses on the immediate effects of single cognitive operations on concurrent sensorimotor adjustments of body balance. A general assumption based on current scientific evidence is that balance control is an intermittent process, which may demonstrate an inherent susceptibility to interference caused by cognitive control activity. A series of eight experiments in four work packages will assess possible sources of interference in young adult participants (age range 18 to 35 years). Experiments will explore the influence of cognitive factors, such as spatial dimensional overlap between balance control, cognitive targets, and response codes. Further, it is planned to determine the influence of the presence of cognitive conflict itself, as well as inhibition as a potential mechanism of conflict resolution. Finally, the impacts of control set implementation and task switching, as well as interference during response selection on balance control will be assessed. In order to achieve the required large sample sizes for detecting moderate effect sizes with sufficient confidence, a multicentred research programme has been designed which will be coordinated across three research sites (Aachen, Giessen, Freiburg). The distribution across three locations will also counteract potential biases caused by specific lab environments and population samples. The selection of experimental cognitive tasks and the interpretation of data patterns across all experiments will provide a description of the mechanistic structure that evokes interference between cognition and balance control. Together, the project aims at advancing the understanding of the cognition-motor interface using balance control as ecologically valid example.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Iring Koch