Research Article

A Two-Phased Pilot Study Evaluating the Feasibility and Acceptability of the Cognitively Enriched Walking Program “Take a Walk with Your Brain” for Older Adults

Table 1

Overview of cognitive tasks.

Cognitive taskBrief description

Facts and titbitsParticipants share facts and titbits with each other. At the end of the walk, “Guess who” is played: a fact or titbit is shared and participants must try to remember whose it was
Quest with environmental cluesParticipants try to find the correct route by means of environmental clues
AwarenessA sort of mindfulness exercise, to be more aware of their environment (e.g., five senses exercise)
SpottedParticipants look out for certain aspects in the environment (e.g., flowers, trees, and buildings)
OpinionsA conversation is held about socially relevant topics. Participants are encouraged to form an opinion and share this opinion in a constructive manner.
Notice and remember symbolsParticipants must look out for symbols placed on the route and try to remember these symbols and the location they were placed at
QuizAnswering questions (e.g., about the environment they encountered during the walk and about historical facts)
Plan the routeParticipants plan their own route
Quest with riddlesBy solving riddles, participants can find out the correct route
Hidden wordThe participants take turns in describing a certain word. The others must guess the word as fast as possible.
Word fluencyaA particular letter or category is chosen after which the participant tries to name as many words as possible, starting with the chosen letter or belonging to the chosen category
Problem solvingParticipants try to solve riddles
Word associationsIn this task, participants try to connect words that are associated with each other
Remember the routeParticipants try to remember the route they followed
I spyOne participant chooses an object in the environment, of which others have to guess what it is by asking questions
A new languageParticipants teach each other words or sentences in a (to them) new language or dialect
Buzz itA funny question is asked, after which participants try to give their funniest answer
Story tellingTogether, participants create a story by adding a sentence one by one
GeocachingThis task consists of a quest for a treasure. The location of the treasure is given at the start of the session, after which participants must try to find the fastest route to the location of the treasure.
Serial subtraction taskParticipants count down from, e.g., 100, by, e.g., sevens
Memory techniquesParticipants learn a memory technique that can help to remember certain words (e.g., Loci-method)
MusicOld songs are played, and participants try to remember the lyrics
Obstacle walkAn obstacle walk is held
Order of daily activitiesEvery participant receives an action that is part of a daily activity. Altogether, participants must put their actions together and find the correct activity.
Mental arithmeticCalculations are made (e.g., simply counting and making sums)
The alphabetParticipants recite the alphabet in the correct or reverse order or skip two letters at a time
ChoreographyParticipants perform extra movements while walking (e.g., two steps forward and five steps backward)
Immediate recallLists are repeated during the walk (e.g., street names and house numbers). Participants try to repeat the list in the same, reverse, or alphabetical order.
N-backA list of letters, words, or numbers is read; participants must respond with a predefined signal (e.g., shouting “yes”) when a letter, word, or number was already previously mentioned
List learningA variety of possible lists are studied, and participants try to repeat them at the end of the walk
Stimulus-responseParticipants must respond to a predefined stimulus in a certain way
BallgamesParticipants must remember the order in which the balls are thrown. The complexity can be increased by using more than one ball or adding rules.

Note. a“Word fluency” is the same cognitive task as “Words starting with a particular letter” in the article of Marent et al. [33].