Examining the influence of mental stress on balance perturbation responses in older adults

•Reach-to-grasp responses to balance perturbations are important to fall prevention but are often ineffective in older adults, particularly during secondary cognitive tasks•Results demonstrate that negative emotions evoked by a mentally stressful cognitive task led to grasping errors and increased reliance on external support to restore balance•Negative emotional processes can lead to reduced effectiveness of protective grasp responses and should be considered during balance rehabilitation approaches.