Stand up to better pay attention, sit down to better subtract: a new perspective on the advantage of cognitive-motor interactions.

The Stroop task and subtraction rely on the different cognitive processes and cerebral regions, but both these cognitive functions interact with posture. The study of cognitive-motor interactions falls under the concept of sharing resources, implying that resources for processing are limited. Researchers try to understand this interaction by constructing dual task (DT) paradigms. None have investigated the Stroop and subtraction tasks in three inherently simple postures in two groups of young adults. This study aimed to test whether a given posture benefits a given cognitive function when cognitive and postural tasks are not overly demanding and are underpinned by common cerebral structures. This study presents the results of 60 healthy young adults performing a subtraction task in three postures (sitting, standing, and walking) and 57 healthy young adults performing the Stroop task in the same three postures. Our results showed that performance at the Stroop task, in terms of number of correct answers and interference, are better while standing or even walking compared to sitting while subtraction is better sitting compared to standing and walking. Moreover, static postural parameters did not vary when in DT compared to single task. This means that there was no additional cost on posture when achieving the cognitive activity simultaneously. The absence of impact of the DT on postural parameters in static postures and the changes in the gait pace when walking suggest that cognitive tasks can be achieved in various postures, without being too costly on posture.

Is better selective attention while standing possible without cost on postural sway?

While it is known that posture and cognition interact, the mechanism of this interaction is still uncertain. This interaction falls under the concept of sharing resources, implying that resources for processing are limited. Many studies were conducted to understand this interaction; however, none have investigated the attention network task (ANT) in two common static postures in young adults. The purpose of this study was to test whether a given posture benefits the components of attention without dual-task (DT) cost, when cognitive and postural tasks are not overly demanding. This study presents the results of 37 healthy young adults performing the ANT in two postural conditions. Our results showed ANT performance with faster reaction times while standing than sitting without cost on postural parameters. This study raises the question of the contribution of posture variations in daily life. Knowledge gained from this research may lead to a better understanding of the interaction between posture and attention. Using "simple" postures, we aim to show that posture might facilitate the achievement of the cognitive activity.

Is it better to sit down, stand up or walk when performing memory and arithmetic activities?

It is now accepted that performing a cognitive task impacts postural control (Polskaia and Lajoie 2016; Vuillerme et al. Neurosci Lett 291: 77-80, 2000). However, the reverse impact of posture on cognitive performance is less documented. The present study investigated performance in two cognitive activities (memory and arithmetic) performed in three different postural conditions (sitting, standing, and walking). Overall, our data suggest that the posture adopted during a task can improve cognitive performance with a better answer for arithmetic in the sitting position than during walking but more correctly recalled words while walking. This study, thus, suggests that there could be preferential association between cognition and posture, i.e., memory cognitive performance can be improved when walking and mental arithmetic while sitting.