Postural anxiety influences the allocation of attentional resources among younger and older adults

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dc.contributor.authorKempster, Cody C.
dc.contributor.authorUniversity of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
dc.contributor.supervisorBrown, Lesley
dc.date.accessioned2011-11-09T02:25:46Z
dc.date.available2011-11-09T02:25:46Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.degree.levelMasters
dc.descriptionxi, 107 leaves : ill. ; 29 cmen_US
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of this thesis was to investigate the influence of postural anxiety on the capacity for Flexible Resource Allocation (FRA) among younger (YA) and older adults (OA). Two experiments were conducted to explore (a) the influence of heightened postural anxiety on the flexible allocation of attention among OA and (b) the influence of concurrent postural challenge and postural anxiety on FRA among YA. Participants performed a postural task concurrently to a cognitive task according to three instructional sets directing task priority. Experiment one revealed that FRA was compromised among OA during circumstances of heightened anxiety. This capacity however, remained available among YA. Therefore, for the second experiment I varied the support surface to explore whether the capacity for FRA could be sustained when posture was challenged beyond static stance. Results indicated that YA altered cognitive task performance according to instructional set without compromising postural stability. These findings suggest that even when posture is challenged during heightened postural anxiety, YA maintain the capacity to automatically allocate attention to a postural task while performing a secondary task. Conversely, it seems that heightened postural anxiety strengthens the attentional bias to posture and subsequently compromises FRA among OA. Overall, results from this thesis suggest that the capacity for FRA is age and situation dependent.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/2555
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherLethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Kinesiology, 2010en_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Kinesiologyen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science)en_US
dc.subjectPosture -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectEquilibrium (Physiology) -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectOlder people -- Orientation and mobility -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectFalls (Accidents) in old age -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectDissertations, Academicen_US
dc.titlePostural anxiety influences the allocation of attentional resources among younger and older adultsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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