Objective: To investigate the effects of adding a cognitive subtraction task on the duration of the 360° turn test, and to compare the performance between cognitively unimpaired controls (CU, without significant neurological or psychiatric illness) and people with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: Turning is a common and complex motor task in everyday life. To perform two tasks simultaneously (dual tasking) increases the difficulty further.
Method: This cross-sectional study included data and participants from the Motor-ACT study, which is linked to the Swedish BioFINDER-2 study. The duration of the 360° turn test (two turns, i.e., both directions) in standing was timed by using a digital stopwatch (s). The 360° turn was assessed as a single task and thereafter while dual tasking (continuous subtraction of 3, starting from 99).
Paired-samples t-tests were used for comparing the total time of the single and dual task in each group, respectively. Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were calculated. Unpaired t-tests (independent samples t-test) were used for comparisons of the total time between the two groups, i.e., both as a single- and dual task.
Results: Forty-eight individuals with PD (mean age 75.6 ±4.7, 32.7% women) managed the single task. The mean (SD) total time was 8.9 s ±4.1. The dual task was completed by 46 individuals. The mean total time was 11.9s ±4.5. In the PD group, the effect size of adding the cognitive task on the total time of the 360° turn test was 1.00 (95%CI 0.64, 1.36, p<0.001).
In the CU group, 296 (mean age 77.7 ±5.2, 61% women) participants managed the single task: mean (SD) 6.7s ±1.5. While dual tasking (n=282), the mean total time was 9.8s ±3.5. The effect size for the CU group was 1.09 (95%CI 0.94, 1.24, p<0.001).
The turn duration was significantly increased (i.e., slower) for people with PD as compared to CU, which applied for both single (p<0.001) and dual task (p≤0.005),
Conclusion: Although people with PD turned slower than CU, both groups showed large effects of dual tasking. Our findings suggest that turning 360° is a promising motor task when assessing dual tasking, which can be of value for clinicians and researchers.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
M. Lindh-Rengifo, S. Fors, S. Palmqvist, E. Stomrud, N. Mattsson-Carlgren, M. Nilsson. The 360° Turn Test as a Single and Dual Task in people with Parkinson’s disease and cognitively unimpaired controls [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2026; 41 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-360-turn-test-as-a-single-and-dual-task-in-people-with-parkinsons-disease-and-cognitively-unimpaired-controls/. Accessed October 1, 2026.« Back to 2026 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-360-turn-test-as-a-single-and-dual-task-in-people-with-parkinsons-disease-and-cognitively-unimpaired-controls/