Designing stepping-stones landscapes: a 2D perspective does not lead to more standardization than an in-situ perspective.

Previous research found that when participants across the lifespan could be the architect of their own stepping-stones landscapes, they create nonstandardized configurations with gap-width variation. Yet, architects often use standardized dimensions in their designs for playgrounds and outdoor fitness areas. To scrutinize why architects tend to seek for more standardized designs than the examined target users, we tested the hypothesis that the difference is caused by a different perspective during the making process.

Neural Correlates of Balance Skill Learning in Young and Older Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Despite the increasing number of research studies examining the effects of age on the control of posture, the number of annual fall-related injuries and deaths continues to increase. A better understanding of how old age affects the neural mechanisms of postural control and how countermeasures such as balance training could improve the neural control of posture to reduce falls in older individuals is therefore necessary. The aim of this review is to determine the effects of age on the neural correlates of balance skill learning measured during static (standing) and dynamic (walking) balance tasks in healthy individuals.

Spatial shifts in swiping actions, the impact of "left" and "right" verbalizations.

Movements are often modulated by the meaning of cue words. We explore the interaction between verbal and visual constraints during a movement by investigating if spoken words during movement execution bias late movement control of swiping actions on a tablet when vision of the target is removed during the movement. Verbalization trials required participants to vocalize the spatial directions 'LEFT', 'MIDDLE', or 'RIGHT' of the active target, relative to the other presented targets.

Neural Correlates of Motor Skill Learning Are Dependent on Both Age and Task Difficulty.

Although a general age-related decline in neural plasticity is evident, the effects of age on neural plasticity after motor practice are inconclusive. Inconsistencies in the literature may be related to between-study differences in task difficulty. Therefore, we aimed to determine the effects of age and task difficulty on motor learning and associated brain activity.

The influence of locative expressions on context-dependency of endpoint control in aiming.

It has been claimed that increased reliance on context, or allocentric information, develops when aiming movements are more consciously monitored and/or controlled. Since verbalizing target features requires strong conscious monitoring, we expected an increased reliance on allocentric information when verbalizing a target label (i.e.

Failure to Engage Neural Plasticity through Practice of a High-difficulty Task is Accompanied by Reduced Motor Skill Retention in Older Adults.

While the difficulty of a motor task can act as a stimulus for learning in younger adults, it is unknown how task difficulty interacts with age-related reductions in motor performance and altered brain activation. We examined the effects of task difficulty on motor performance and used electroencephalography (EEG) to probe task-related brain activation after acquisition and 24-h retention of a mirror star-tracing skill in healthy older adults (N = 36, 65-86 years). The results showed that the difficulty of the motor skill affected both the magnitude of motor skill learning and the underlying neural mechanisms.

Crossing the Gap: Older Adults Do Not Create Less Challenging Stepping Stone Configurations Than Young Adults.

Background: Despite the known health benefits of physical activity, the number of older adults exercising regularly remains low in many countries. There is a demand for public open space interventions that can safely train balance, muscular strength, and cardiovascular fitness. In this participatory design study, older adults and young adults were to create their own stepping stones configurations.

Touchscreen Pointing and Swiping: The Effect of Background Cues and Target Visibility.

By assessing the precision of gestural interactions with touchscreen targets, the authors investigate how the type of gesture, target location, and scene visibility impact movement endpoints. Participants made visually and memory-guided pointing and swiping gestures with a stylus to targets located in a semicircle. Specific differences in aiming errors were identified between swiping and pointing.

The Role of Task Difficulty in Learning a Visuomotor Skill.

Introduction: Task difficulty affects the amount of interpretable information from a task, which is thought to interfere with motor learning. However, it is unclear whether task difficulty in itself is a stimulus for motor learning because the experimental evidence is mixed in support of the optimal challenge point framework that predicts one specific level of task difficulty to produce the greatest magnitude of motor learning.

Purpose: We determined the effects of functional task difficulty on motor skill acquisition, retention, and transfer.

RAAAF's office landscape The End of Sitting: Energy expenditure and temporary comfort when working in non-sitting postures.

An earlier study suggested that the activity-inviting office landscape called "The End of Sitting", designed by Rietveld Architecture Art Affordances (RAAAF), should be considered as an alternative working environment to prevent sedentary behavior. The End of Sitting lacks chairs and tables but consists instead of a myriad of sloped surfaces at different heights that afford workers to stand, lean or recline at different locations. In this study, we assessed the impact of four of its workspaces on physical intensity, temporary comfort and productivity of office work and compared the outcomes with sitting and standing behind a desk.

Aldo van Eyck's Playgrounds: Aesthetics, Affordances, and Creativity.

After World War II, the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck developed hundreds of playgrounds in the city of Amsterdam. These public playgrounds were located in parks, squares, and derelict sites, and consisted of minimalistic aesthetic play equipment that was supposed to stimulate the creativity of children. Over the last decades, these playgrounds have been studied by sociologists, theorists of art and architecture, and psychologists.

Verbalizations Affect Visuomotor Control in Hitting Objects to Distant Targets.

There is a long-standing proposal for the existence of two neuroanatomically and functionally separate visual systems; one supported by the dorsal pathway to control action and the second supported by the ventral pathway to handle explicit perceptual judgments. The dorsal pathway requires fast access to egocentric information, while the ventral pathway primarily requires allocentric information. Despite the evidence for functionally distinct systems, researchers have posited important interactions.

Gap-crossing behavior in a standardized and a nonstandardized jumping stone configuration.

Over the last years, the omnipresent standardization of playgrounds-the distances between, for example, jumping stones tend to be equal-has been criticized by both scientists and architects. First, it has been argued that standardization fails to do justice to the variability in the children's action capabilities. Second, it might simplify play in that children repetitively cross over the same distance and, thus, do not have to worry about their movements anymore.

Implicit and Explicit Learning of a Sequential Postural Weight-Shifting Task in Young and Older Adults.

Sequence-specific postural motor learning in a target-directed weight-shifting task in 12 older and 12 young participants was assessed. In the implicit sequence learning condition participants performed a concurrent spatial cognitive task and in the two explicit conditions participants were required to discover the sequence order either with or without the concurrent cognitive task. Participants moved a cursor on the screen from the center location to one of the target locations projected in a semi-circle and back by shifting their center of pressure (CoP) on force plates.

'The End of Sitting': An Empirical Study on Working in an Office of the Future.

Background: Inspired by recent findings that prolonged sitting has detrimental health effects, Rietveld Architecture Art Affordances (RAAAF) and visual artist Barbara Visser designed a working environment without chairs and desks. This environment, which they called The End of Sitting, is a sculpture whose surfaces afford working in several non-sitting postures (e.g.

Validity and Reliability of Gait and Postural Control Analysis Using the Tri-axial Accelerometer of the iPod Touch.

Accelerometer-based assessments can identify elderly with an increased fall risk and monitor interventions. Smart devices, like the iPod Touch, with built-in accelerometers are promising for clinical gait and posture assessments due to easy use and cost-effectiveness. The aim of the present study was to establish the validity and reliability of the iPod Touch for gait and posture assessment.

Behavioral adaptation of young and older drivers to an intersection crossing advisory system.

An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) provided information about the right of way regulation and safety to cross an upcoming intersection. Effects were studied in a longer-term study involving 18 healthy older drivers between the ages of 65 and 82 years and 18 healthy young drivers between the ages of 20 and 25 years. Participants repeatedly drove 25 km city routes in eight sessions on separate days over a period of two months in a driving simulator.

Is the glass half full or half empty? How to reverse the effect of glass elongation on the volume poured.

To reduce the volume of drinks and the risk of overconsumption, health professionals recommend the use of tall skinny instead of short wide glasses. Yet the results of the present study contradict this health advice. Participants who generously filled up a glass with lemonade served 9% more in tall narrow compared with short wide glasses (p<0.

Differences between young and older adults in the control of weight shifting within the surface of support.

An important reason for falling in elderly is incorrect weight-shifting. In many daily life activities quick and accurate weight-shifting is needed to maintain balance and to prevent from falling. The present study aims to gain more insight in age-related differences in the control of weight-shifting.

Longer-term effects of ADAS use on speed and headway control in drivers diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) provided information about speed limits, speed, speeding, and following distance. Information was presented to the participants by means of a head-up display.

Methods: Effects of the information on speed and headway control were studied in a longer-term driving simulator study including 12 repeated measures spread out over 4 weeks.

Intersection assistance: a safe solution for older drivers?

Within the next few decades, the number of older drivers operating a vehicle will increase rapidly (Eurostat, 2011). As age increases so does physical vulnerability, age-related impairments, and the risk of being involved in a fatal crashes. Older drivers experience problems in driving situations that require divided attention and decision making under time pressure as reflected by their overrepresentation in at-fault crashes on intersections.

Exergaming for elderly: effects of different types of game feedback on performance of a balance task.

Balance training to improve postural control in elderly can contribute to the prevention of falls. Video games that require body movements have the potential to improve balance. However, research about the effects of type of visual feedback (i.

Postural control of elderly: moving to predictable and unpredictable targets.

Impaired postural control with muscle weakness is an important predictor of falls within the elderly population.Particular daily activities that require weight shifting in order to be able to reach a specific target (a cup on a table) require continuous adjustments to keep the body's center of mass balanced. In the present study postural control was examined in healthy elderly and young subjects during a task in which subjects had to move the body's center of mass towards a virtual target on a screen that appeared at predictable and unpredictable locations.

Active video gaming to improve balance in the elderly.

The combination of active video gaming and exercise (exergaming) is suggested to improve elderly people's balance, thereby decreasing fall risk. Exergaming has been shown to increase motivation during exercise therapy, due to the enjoyable and challenging nature, which could support long-term adherence for exercising balance. However, scarce evidence is available of the direct effects of exergaming on postural control.

Differential effects of a visual illusion on online visual guidance in a stable environment and online adjustments to perturbations.

In the reported, experiment participants hit a ball to aim at the vertex of a Müller-Lyer configuration. This configuration either remained stable, changed its shaft length or the orientation of the tails during movement execution. A significant illusion bias was observed in all perturbation conditions, but not in the stationary condition.