{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T05:42:43Z","timestamp":1777873363453,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777507200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Parinson's UK","award":["G-2007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["G-2007"]}]},{"name":"ERC Advanced Grant","award":["EP\/Y029143\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EP\/Y029143\/1"]}]},{"name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research Exeter Biomedical Research Centre"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Adaptive walking relies on proactive gaze behaviour to plan foot placement and maintain stability. This study examined how mental workload and task complexity affect gaze behaviour and gait biomechanics during a precision target-stepping task in healthy young adults. We also quantified the frequency of cross-stepping during the experimental task. Twenty-three participants (18\u201323 years) walked along an L-shaped pathway containing raised stepping targets under single-task (ST) and dual-task (DT) conditions. Targets had four different layouts to create high and low difficulty conditions. Eye movements were recorded using mobile eye-tracking, and gait kinematics were recorded via motion capture. Compared with ST, DT walking produced slower walking speeds, longer stance times, and reduced velocity between stepping targets, indicating a more inefficient gait strategy. In addition, eye-tracking analyses revealed fewer and shorter fixations on task-relevant targets and a greater number of fixations directed toward task-irrelevant areas and, saccadic amplitudes were reduced despite increased outside fixations, suggesting a breakdown in visual exploration between proximal and distal regions of the walkway. In ST conditions, cross-stepping was more frequent than in DT. These findings indicate that increased mental workload compromises proactive gaze behaviour, likely through working-memory and attentional limitations that disrupt feedforward gait planning. Contrary to expectation, cross-stepping occurred more often during ST than DT walking, suggesting that in this population cross-stepping may not be a maladaptive strategy. Overall, these results highlight the cognitive demands of adaptive walking even in young, low-risk individuals and underscore the importance of preserving visual\u2013motor coordination under cognitive stress.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0337786","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T17:54:52Z","timestamp":1777571692000},"page":"e0337786","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The cost of dual-task walking: Cognitive demands restrict gaze behaviour and gait 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