Brain Activity During Walking Tasks in People With Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes
Studies brain activity and walking while thinking in people with atypical Parkinson disease.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Brain Activity During Complex Walking in People With Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes
Key facts
- Where
- Solna, SwedenSee the site
Where in Sweden
- Karolinska InstitutetSolna, SwedenTaking people
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Trial details
- Who runs it
- Karolinska Institutet
- Trial code
- NCT06906276
- Record updated
- 22 October 2026
- Original description
Every-day life means being part of a complex environment and performing complex tasks that usually involve a combination of motor and cognitive skills. However, the process of aging or the sequelae of neurological diseases such as atypical Parkinson's disease (APD) compromises motor-cognitive interaction necessary for an independent lifestyle. While motor-cognitive performance has been identified as an important goal for sustained health across different clinical populations, little is known about underlying brain function leading to these difficulties and how to best target these motor-cognitive difficulties in the context of rehabilitation and exercise interventions.Read full original descriptionShow less
Walking and Thinking - Brain Activity During Complex Walking in Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes
Every-day life means being part of a complex environment and performing complex tasks that usually involve a combination of motor and cognitive skills. However, the process of aging or the sequelae of neurological diseases such as atypical Parkinson's disease (APD) compromises motor-cognitive interaction necessary for an independent lifestyle. While motor-cognitive performance has been identified as an important goal for sustained health across different clinical populations, little is known about underlying brain function leading to these difficulties and how to best target these motor-cognitive difficulties in the context of rehabilitation and exercise interventions.
The challenge of improving treatments of motor-cognitive difficulties (such as dual-tasking and navigation) is daunting, and an important step is arriving at a method that accurately portrays these impairments in an ecologically valid state. The investigators aim therefore to explore brain function during complex walking in healthy and APD by investigating the effects of age and neurological disease on motor-cognitive performance and its neural correlates during three conditions of complex walking (dual-task walking, navigation and a combination of both) using non-invasive measures of brain activity (functional near infrared spectrometry, fNIRS) and advanced gait analysis in real time in older healthy adults and people with APD.
Inclusion: clinical diagnosis of PSP according to Movement Disorder Society (MDS) (2017) or; MSA according to MDS criteria (2022); the ability to walk with or without a mobility device for ≤5 minutes continuously.
Exclusion: Other neurological diseases; Other diseases that can affect gait or balance; cognitive difficulties affecting the ability to understand and/or follow verbal/written - instructions; severe freezing of gait; Severe hearing or visual impairments that affect participation in the assessments.