Unexpected dual task benefits on cycling in Parkinson disease and healthy adults: a neuro-behavioral model

When performing two tasks at once, a dual task, performance on one or both tasks typically suffers. People with Parkinson's disease (PD) usually experience larger dual task decrements on motor tasks than healthy older adults (HOA). Our objective was to investigate the decrements in cycling caused by performing cognitive tasks with a range of difficulty in people with PD and HOAs. Twenty-eight participants with Parkinson's disease and 20 healthy older adults completed a baseline cycling task with no secondary tasks and then completed dual task cycling while performing 12 tasks from six cognitive domains representing a wide range of difficulty. Cycling was faster during dual task conditions than at baseline, and was significantly faster for six tasks (all p