Validation of Stroop task with virtual reality and brain activations during treadmill walking in young healthy participants: A pilot study

Kota Sawa, Koki Haraguchi, Daisuke Fukuyama, Riku Omiya, Sunao Kodaira
Purpose:

This study aimed to evaluate characteristics of VRST processing during treadmill walking.

Methods:

Two right-handed healthy male participants (Cases A and B), aged 20 years, were recruited from a university for this study. They walked on a treadmill at a normal speed of 1.3 m/sec for 2 min to establish a baseline, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was subsequently performed during the VRST. fNIRS measurements were simultaneously obtained during VRST. The fNIRS was set to right channels 1, 2, 3, and 4 and left channels 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the prefrontal, medial prefrontal, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices using the 10-20 method. The VRST during treadmill walking was performed 30 times and was synchronized with treadmill walking in virtual reality. The primary outcome measure was the reaction time for each VRST. Reliability and internal validity were assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation and multiple comparisons were conducted using the Bonferroni test to compare the number of trials and between trials (p0.05). The study was conducted following ethical approval, and informed consent was obtained from all participants.


Results:

Reaction time for the Stroop tasks 1, 2, 3, 4, and VRST were 0.82, 0.84, 1.11, 1.07, and 1.97 s for Case A, and 0.80, 0.80, 0.90, 1.04, and 1.84 s for Case B. For the VRST and the day-reversed VRST, the reaction times were 0.82, 0.84, 1.11, 1.07, and 1.97 s for Case A, and 0.80, 0.80, 0.90, 1.04, and 1.84 s for Case B, respectively. In the day-altered VRST and tasks 1, 2, 3, and 4, the reaction times were 0.77, 0.76, 1.04, 1.02, and 1.81 s for Case A, and 0.82, 0.68, 0.87, 0.94, and 1.66 s for Case B.

Case A demonstrated a reliability coefficient of ρ=0.517 (p0.01) for the VRST and task 1, and a significant difference (p0.05) for the VRST and tasks 3 and 4.

The reliability of the VRST between Cases A and B was ρ=0.371 (p0.05).

Brain activity during the walking VRST was significantly higher (p0.05) in the right lateral prefrontal ch1, right prefrontal ch3, and left dorsolateral prefrontal ch8 in Case A, and in the right lateral prefrontal ch1, left medial prefrontal ch6, and left dorsolateral prefrontal ch8 in Case B.

Conclusion(s):

Reliability in the walking VRST was moderate, and tasks 3 and 4 were task-specific. In addition, brain activity in the prefrontal, medial prefrontal, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices is an important area of interest during VRST.

Implications:

Our results suggest that the VRST may serve as a new rehabilitation tool for the assessment and intervention in dual tasks.

Funding acknowledgements:
The authors want to thank the university students for their timely assistance.
Keywords:
Virtural Reality
Stroop task
Brain activation
Primary topic:
Neurology
Second topic:
Research methodology, knowledge translation and implementation science
Third topic:
Innovative technology: robotics
Did this work require ethics approval?:
Yes
Name the institution and ethics committee that approved your work:
SBC Tokyo Medical University in ethics committees.
Provide the ethics approval number:
23-11
Has any of this material been/due to be published or presented at another national or international conference prior to the World Physiotherapy Congress 2025?:
No

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