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Table 2 Summary of experimental tasks used in our previous study.

From: Dual-task costs while walking increase in old age for some, but not for other tasks: an experimental study of healthy young and elderly persons

acronym

description

dependent variable

walk

walk at preferred speed down a 2.2 m wide hallway, or along a 0.8 m wide circular path

mean speed

walkn

walk at preferred speed along a 0.2 m wide circle

mean speed

walknf

walk at maximum speed along a 0.2 m wide circle

mean speed

treadmillo

walk on a treadmill (elderly 0.8, younger 1.2 m/s), while obstacles appear at unknown intervals

percent of obstacles negotiated without contact

spell

spell a word of 18–21 letters

number of correctly spelled letters per 20 s

shape

hear names of 10 geometrical shapes while walking, and repeat them afterwards

number of correctly repeated shapes

button

close nine different buttons on a jacket, open them, close them again, etc.

number of completed button actions per 120 s

detect

press knob when a dot appearing in a random-dot pattern forms a square with three pre-existing dots

percent and RT of hits, percent of correct rejections