Sensorimotor synchronization during gait is altered by the addition of variability to an external cue.

Sensorimotor synchronization during gait is altered by the addition of variability to an external cue. Hum Mov Sci. 2020 Jun;71:102626 Authors: Tackett E, Nessler J Abstract Sensorimotor synchronization has been used in the rehabilitation of gait, yet much remains unknown regarding the optimal use of this technique. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that adding small amounts of variability to the motion of a vertically oscillating treadmill would affect the behavior of healthy walkers. Sixteen young adults walked on a treadmill and pneumatically actuated platform for one control trial (no oscillation) and eight trials in which the walking surface oscillated in the vertical direction under different conditions of variability. During the oscillation trials, the mean frequency of oscillation was equal to the preferred step frequency of the participant, but each individual cycle period was allowed to vary within a pre-determined range from 0% (no variability) to ±25% (high variability) of the mean cycle period. The amount of variance of each cycle period within each condition was drawn randomly from a white noise generator. Synchronization was improved when a small amount of noise was added to the platform motion but synchronization significantly decreased at higher levels of noise. Coefficient of variation of stride duration was relatively unchanged at lower levels of variability, but increased significantly at highe...
Source: Human Movement Science - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Hum Mov Sci Source Type: research