Tian Zhou

Background

Hi there 😉

I am Tian Zhou (M.Sc.), an academic staff member and PhD candidate at the University of Freiburg, Germany. I am affiliated with the Research Training Group “Statistical Modeling in Psychology” (SMiP), funded by the German Research Foundation.

With an interdisciplinary background in cognitive psychology, informatics, and human factors, my research is dedicated to elucidating the unconscious modulation of cognition and the decline of executive functions associated with aging. My current work involves analyzing a large geriatric database focusing on cognitive-motor dual-task performance in older adults. This project, undertaken in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of psychologists, sports scientists, and gerontologists, integrates task performance data with spatiotemporal gait parameters and clinical diagnoses. Such a multifaceted approach enables an in-depth retrospective analysis of fall risk factors in the elderly, facilitating the construction of sophisticated statistical models to understand cognitive-motor dual-task performance, postural control, and fall risk.

See also: https://www.uni-mannheim.de/smip/team/phd-candidates/cohort-2023/tian-zhou/

Research Interests

• Executive Functions 
• Multitasking and Cognitive Aging
• Unconscious Cognitive Modulation
• Cognitive Modeling

Current Project

GAITRite Database – retrospective study on risk factors of older adults’ fall

This video might appear in your Reels, showing pedestrians making phone calls while briskly walking and grabbing any random items handed to them. Cognitive-motor interference occurs when a person engages in both a cognitive and a motor task simultaneously (dual-tasking), leading to poorer performance in one or both tasks compared to when they are performed separately (Plummer et al., 2013). For older adults, cognitive-motor dual-tasking can be particularly challenging due to the loss in cognitive and motor integrities associated with aging (Bernard-Demanze et al., 2009; Brustio et al., 2018; López-Otín et al., 2013).

The Basel Mobility Center in Switzerland applied Basel Cognitive-Motor Dual-Task Paradigm (Theill et al., 2011) on patients as support for diagnosis. With clinic and socio-demographical information integrated, a large-scale database with more than ten thousand samples and six hundred parameters was developed.

Please feel free to contact me if you find shared research interests via email! 🙂

Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis (psychology and sport science)

Cognitive-motor interference (CMI) refers to the decrement in performance that occurs when individuals simultaneously engage in a cognitive and a motor task (i.e., dual-tasking), compared to performing each task independently (Plummer et al., 2013). This phenomenon becomes particularly pronounced in older adults due to age-related declines in both cognitive and motor function (Bernard-Demanze et al., 2009; Brustio et al., 2018; López-Otín et al., 2013).

At the Basel Mobility Center in Switzerland, the Basel Cognitive-Motor Dual-Task Paradigm (Theill et al., 2011) has been employed in clinical assessments to aid diagnostic decisions. As a result, a comprehensive database has been compiled, comprising clinical, demographic, and gait-related data from over 10,000 individuals, with more than 600 variables available.

In the context of the GAITRite project, Bachelor’s or Master’s students are invited to conduct a retrospective analysis using this extensive dataset. Students may focus on one or more of the following thematic areas to explore associations with fall risk:

1. Socio-demographic factors (e.g., living situation, physical activity levels);
2. Clinical factors (e.g., cognitive assessments such as MMSE, medication profiles);
3. Physical factors (e.g., use of sensory or walking aids, assessments of muscle strength);
4. Gait characteristics (e.g., gait speed, postural sway);
5. Cognitive workload and dual-task costs.

Depending on individual interests and level of study, thesis projects may involve exploratory data analysis, statistical modeling (e.g., predicting fall risk), or comparative experimental research. For instance, students may design and conduct laboratory or online experiments to assess CMI in younger populations, enabling age-based comparisons.

Self-initiated topics that align with the scope of the project are highly encouraged. Students will receive support in refining their research questions and analysis strategies based on the available data.

Literature

• Zhou T, Straub E, Kiesel A, Gehring D, Granacher U, Haslbauer A, Kressig RW, and Rössler R. (in prep.) ”Stop Walking when Talking” as an Extreme Compensatory Strategy against Cognitive-Motor Interference in Healthy Older Adults.
• Theill, N., Martin, M., Schumacher, V., Bridenbaugh, S. A., & Kressig, R. W. (2011). Simultaneously Measuring Gait and Cognitive Performance in Cognitively Healthy and Cognitively Impaired Older Adults: The Basel Motor-Cognition Dual-Task Paradigm: MOTOR-COGNITION DUAL-TASK PERFORMANCE. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 59(6), 1012–1018. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03429.x
• Al-Yahya, E., Dawes, H., Smith, L., Dennis, A., Howells, K., & Cockburn, J. (2011). Cognitive motor interference while walking: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(3), 715–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.08.008
• Verhaeghen, P., Steitz, D. W., Sliwinski, M. J., & Cerella, J. (2003). Aging and dual-task performance: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 18(3), 443–460. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.443

Note: currently I can only supervise Thesis Projects in English, sorry about that.

• Zhou, T. (2025, July 15 – 17). Walking and talking – Attentional resource allocation under cognitive-motor interference [Talk presentation]. A-Dok Conference 2025, Aachen, Germany.
• Zhou, T. (2025, September 3–5). Motor imagery and cognitive‑motor interference throughout ageing [Talk presentation]. 24th ESCoP Conference, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
• Zhou T., Straub E., Kiesel A., Gehring D., Granacher U., Haslbauer A., Kressig, R. W. & Rössler R. (2025, March 9 – 12). Aging on the Move – „Stop Walking when Talking“ as an Extreme Compensatory Strategy against Cognitive-Motor Interference [Poster presentation]. 67th Conference of Experimental Psychologists (Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psycholog:innen, TeaP), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• Zhou T., Straub E., Kiesel A., Gehring D., Granacher U., Haslbauer A., Kressig, R. W. & Rössler R. (2024, June 20 – 21). Cognitive motor interference and aging: An analysis plan for the GAITRite database [Poster presentation]. SMiP-IOPS Summer Conference, Mannheim, Germany.
• Zhou T., Straub E., Kiesel A., Gehring D., Granacher U., Haslbauer A., Kressig, R. W. & Rössler R. (2024, November 21 – 24). Cognitive-Motor Dual-Task Cost as a Risk Factor: Retrospective Analysis of Older Adults‘ Falling History [Poster presentation]. 65th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New York City, NY, United States.