A Multitude of Domains: How Attention Shapes Our Behavior from Health Promoting to Clinical Rehabilitation Settings

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Community Care".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2025) | Viewed by 1235

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: perception-action; motor control; motor development; gait analysis; embodiment; motor rehabilitation

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: sport psychology; social cognitive model; self-determination theory; theory of planned behavior
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is known that humans can perform concurrent tasks during motor activity, like generating a list of words or making calculations. These are known as dual tasks. Since the performance of a motor task can be negatively influenced by a concurrent cognitive task, researchers investigated this phenomenon, called cognitive interference, which is informative of the residual cognitive reserve of attentional resources. With aging, motor tasks such as walking may require a greater need for cognitive control and supervision, which evolves into an increased cost to accomplish the task. Moreover, this cognitive deficit has been linked to the risk of falls in older adults, and the use of dual task paradigms is increasing across clinical settings.

In the healthy elderly population, it has been found that the use of the dual task paradigm, conveyed through motor activity, promotes physical well-being and the improvement of overall cognitive–motor functioning.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue with original research or review articles addressing the potential role of attentive resources in shaping motor competencies.

This Special Issue aims to collect studies investigating the role of attention and other higher-order cognitive functions involved in the execution of a motor task or its use for rehabilitation purpose. Research using modern neurophysiological techniques such as eye tracking, EEG, fNIRS, and virtual and/or augmented reality combined with wearable sensors for the objective quantification of movement are encouraged.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Dual-task research in community-dwelling elderly people.
  • Cognitive–motor tasks deepening innovative strategies based on the dual task paradigm to improve well-being and prevent the risk of injuries/disabilities in healthy elderly;
  • The implementation of dual-task strategies for the motor rehabilitation of people affected by neurological disorders.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Daniela De Bartolo
Prof. Dr. Fabio Lucidi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • cognitive–motor training
  • dual-task paradigm
  • health promoting
  • cognitive reserve
  • cognitive interactions
  • motor adaptation
  • rehabilitation strategies
  • neurorehabilitation
  • neurological disorders
  • community-dwelling elderly people

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 490 KiB  
Article
How Do the Timing of Early Rehabilitation Together with Cognitive and Functional Variables Influence Stroke Recovery? Results from the CogniReMo Italian Multicentric Study
by Mauro Mancuso, Marco Iosa, Giovanni Morone, Daniela De Bartolo, Ciancarelli Irene and Cogniremo Study Group
Healthcare 2025, 13(3), 316; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13030316 - 4 Feb 2025
Viewed by 885
Abstract
Background: The time lapse between the acute event and the beginning of rehabilitation seems to play a significant role in determining the effectiveness of rehabilitation together with the severity of neurological deficits and impairments of motor and cognitive functions. The present study aims [...] Read more.
Background: The time lapse between the acute event and the beginning of rehabilitation seems to play a significant role in determining the effectiveness of rehabilitation together with the severity of neurological deficits and impairments of motor and cognitive functions. The present study aims to further explore the prognostic role of cognitive and motor functions, concerning the different times of the beginning of neurorehabilitation. Methods: A secondary examination was conducted by applying a cluster analysis on the data of 386 stroke patients in the subacute phase who were enrolled in the Cognitive and Recovery of Motor Functions (CogniReMo) study. Results: The Barthel Index at the admission predicts clinical outcome: if BI was 0, it was on average 28.7 ± 24.1 at discharge. For patients with Barthel Index <15 at discharge, the discriminant was unaltered executive functions having an average output of 61.3 instead of 45.5. In the range of BI at admission between 16 and 45, the discriminant variable was to have an NIHSS ≤ 5 to obtain a high outcome (BI = 75.4 instead of BI = 61.9). Subjects with a BI at admission >45 were the best responders to rehabilitation, with a mean BI at discharge of 85 if they have alteration in spatial attention, and 95.3 if they have no deficits in spatial attention. Also, for inpatients hospitalized in a period ranging from the 20th to the 37th day after stroke, spatial attention was a discriminant variable to have a poor outcome (BI = 34.3) vs. a good one (BI = 76.7). Conclusions: The algorithm identified a hierarchical decision tree that might assume a significant role for clinicians in defining an appropriate rehabilitation pathway, depending on the time of rehabilitation beginning and the severity of motor and cognitive deficits. Full article
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