Evaluating the Effect of Activity and Environment on Fall Risk in a Paradigm-Depending Laboratory Setting: Protocol for an Experimental Pilot Study.

Background: Knowledge about the causal factors leading to falls is still limited, and fall prevention interventions urgently need to be more effective to limit the otherwise increasing burden caused by falls in older people. To identify individual fall risk, it is important to understand the complex interplay of fall-related factors. Although fall events are common, they are seldom observed, and fall reports are often biased.

Walking in high-risk settings: do older adults still prioritize gait when distracted by a cognitive task?

When a cognitive and a motor task like walking or keeping one's balance are performed concurrently, performance usually deteriorates. Older adults have often been shown to prioritize their motor performance in such dual-task situations, possibly to protect themselves from falls. The current study investigates whether these prioritization behaviors can still be observed when several challenges are combined.

Adult age differences in familiarization to treadmill walking within virtual environments.

We assessed age-related differences in adults in familiarization to treadmill walking within virtual environments (VE), and examined whether treadmill walking after familiarization resembles overground walking. Seventeen younger and 17 older adults walked at preferred speed on an overground walkway and afterwards walked at the same speed for 20 min on a treadmill coupled to a VE. A motion capture system was used to measure spatio-temporal gait parameters.

Interacting effects of cognitive load and adult age on the regularity of whole-body motion during treadmill walking.

We investigated effects of concurrent cognitive task difficulty (n-back) on the regularity of whole-body movements during treadmill walking in women and men from 3 age groups (20-30, 60-70, and 70-80 years old). Using principal component analysis of individual gait patterns, we separated main (regular) from residual (irregular) components of whole-body motion. Proportion of residual variance (RV) was used as an index of gait irregularity.

Psychological principles of successful aging technologies: a mini-review.

Based on resource-oriented conceptions of successful lifespan development, we propose three principles for evaluating assistive technology: (a) net resource release; (b) person specificity, and (c) proximal versus distal frames of evaluation. We discuss how these general principles can aid the design and evaluation of assistive technology in adulthood and old age, and propose two technological strategies, one targeting sensorimotor and the other cognitive functioning. The sensorimotor strategy aims at releasing cognitive resources such as attention and working memory by reducing the cognitive demands of sensory or sensorimotor aspects of performance.

Quantitative and qualitative sex differences in spatial navigation.

We examined sex differences in spatial navigation performance using an ecologically relevant experimental paradigm in which virtual maze-like museums are projected in front of a treadmill. Thirty-two 20-30-year-old adults (16 women/16 men) performed a way-finding task in city-block (straight corridors) or variable (irregular corridors) topographies while walking on the treadmill. Sex differences in spatial navigation performance were reduced in variable topographies, suggesting less reliance on spatial relational learning among women.

Environmental topography and postural control demands shape aging-associated decrements in spatial navigation performance.

This study tests the hypothesis that aging-induced cognitive permeation of sensorimotor functions contributes to adult age differences in spatial navigation performance. Virtual maze-like museums were projected in front of a treadmill. Sixteen 20-30-year-old men and sixteen 60-70-year-old men performed a way-finding task in city-block or variable topographies while walking with or without support.