Dosed Failure Increases Older Adult's Motivation for an Exergame.

We investigated whether dosed failure motivates older adults to perform more repetitions in an exergame that involves hitting targets with stepping movements. The effect of dosed failure was studied in a within-participants design in which all participants performed this exergame in both a Standard condition, in which one never fails, and in a Dosed Failure condition, in which we introduced about 30% failures. The order of conditions (Standard First or Dosed Failure first) was chosen randomly for each participant.

The influence of postural threat on strategy selection in a stepping-down paradigm.

To walk safely in their environment, people need to select adequate movement strategies during gait. In situations that are perceived as more threatening, older adults adopt more cautious strategies. For individuals with excessive fear, selecting adequate strategies might be troubling.

Does misjudgement in a stepping down paradigm predict falls in an older population?

Although measures of actual and perceived physical ability appear to predict falls in older adults, a disparity between these two, also known as misjudgement, may even better explain why some older adults fall, while their peers with similar abilities do not. Therefore, we investigated whether adding a misjudgement term improved prediction of future falls. Besides conventional measures of actual (physical measures) and perceived abilities (questionnaires), we used a stepping down paradigm to quantify behavioural misjudgement.

Do Older Adults Select Appropriate Motor Strategies in a Stepping-Down Paradigm?

Selecting motor strategies in daily life tasks requires a perception of the task requirements as well as of one's own physical abilities. Age-related cognitive and physical changes may affect these perceptions. This might entail that some older adults select inappropriate movement strategies when confronted with daily-life motor tasks, which could lead to balance loss or falls.

On the validity and consistency of misjudgment of stepping ability in young and older adults.

Disparities between perceived and actual physical abilities have been shown in older adults and may lead to balance loss or falls. However, it is unclear whether one's misjudgment is an inherent trait and thus consistent across different tasks, and whether this misjudgment is age-related. We measured the degree of misjudgment in young and older adults on four different stepping tasks; stepping over a raised bar, crossing a declining cord by stepping over it at a self-selected height, crossing a virtual river by stepping over it at a self-selected width, and making a recovery step after release from an inclined position.