Psychophysiological response to cognitive workload during symmetrical, asymmetrical and dual-task walking

•Cognitive workload is determined by performance, subjective ratings and effort.•Psychophysiological parameters reflect cognitive effort necessary to maintain performance.•Psychophysiological measures provide accurate information on cognitive workload during walking.•High cognitive workload induces a significant increase in cadence.•To optimize cognitive workload, psychophysiology could be ‘fed back’ to a biocooperative prosthesis. Walking with a lower limb prosthesis comes at a high cognitive workload for amputees, possibly affecting their mobility, safety and independency. A biocooperative prosthesis which is able to reduce the cognitive workload of walking could offer a solution. Therefore, we wanted to investigate whether different levels of cognitive workload can be assessed during symmetrical, asymmetrical and dual-task walking and to identify which parameters are the most sensitive. Twenty-four healthy subjects participated in this study. Cognitive workload was assessed through psychophysiological responses, physical and cognitive performance and subjective ratings. The results showed that breathing frequency and heart rate significantly increased, and heart rate variability significantly decreased with increasing cognitive workload during walking (p