The association of executive functions and physical fitness with cognitive-motor multitasking in a street crossing scenario

Abstract Here, we investigated whether age-related cognitive-motor interference is influenced by individual’s levels of executive functions and physical fitness in a more ecological valid scenario. Participants ( N = 61, 65–75 years) crossed a virtual street on a treadmill without getting hit by a car during single- and multitasking (typing numbers). Outcomes were cognitive and motor performance parameters. Further, participants’ executive functions, motor coordinative, and cardiovascular fitness were tested. Linear mixed-effects models showed beneficial main effects of executive functions for the cognitive parameters typing ( p = .004) and crossing failures ( p = .023), and a beneficial main effect of motor coordinative fitness for the motor parameter stay time ( p = .043). We found interaction effects between condition and executive functions for typing ( p = .044) with higher benefits during multi- than single-tasking. Commonality analysis revealed an increasing relative contribution of executive functions on cognitive parameters and of motor coordinative fitness on motor parameters from single- to multitasking. Additionally, the proportion of variance commonly explained by executive functions and physical fitness was small for both cognitive and motor parameters. Findings substantiate the benefits of maintaining cognitive functioning and physical fitness up to old age.