The effect of dual-task difficulty on automatic and conscious postural control

Young healthy adult posture-cognition dual-task (DT) control relies on some degree of automatic mechanisms; however, the use of automatic control strategies while dual-tasking, in various contexts, has received little attention. This thesis aimed to examine how combined manipulations of postural and cognitive tasks influenced automatic and conscious postural control strategies. Chapter 2 focused on cognitive task difficulty (six levels) under two postural challenges. Findings showed automaticity to increase when distracted; this increase did not depend on the postural challenge and cognitive task difficulty. Chapter 3 considered combined postural (six levels) and cognitive (two levels) task challenges. Findings demonstrated that some automatic control remained despite stability challenges; however, relatively less automatic control may be used when the overall DT challenge increases. Together these findings suggest that young healthy adults continue to use some automatic mechanisms when distracted in various DT contexts.