Age-related changes in visual guidance strategies

描述（由申请人提供）：随着年龄的增长，视觉功能下降最近与老年人功能活动能力下降和跌倒风险增加有关。尽管这些知识,我们知之甚少老年人如何使用视觉输入谈判具有挑战性的地形,表面和途径。在老年人跌倒中，被障碍物、障碍物或台阶绊倒占很大比例，这可能与视觉输入不足或异常有关。本研究的目的是研究年轻人和老年人在跨越障碍、台阶和楼梯时视觉凝视模式和视觉输入需求的年龄相关差异。当受试者在不同的地形上行走时，眼球追踪技术将用于监测相对于环境场景的精确凝视位置。液晶显示眼镜将用于选择性地控制受试者在每个运动任务的关键阶段接收的视觉输入，同时测量任务表现的生物力学。由于许多生理系统的轻微衰退的累积效应，假设老年人将比年轻人更依赖视觉输入，以在日常生活中的运动活动中保持平衡。预期本研究将为健康老年人的视觉引导运动提供深入的见解，并为未来研究低视力、认知障碍或其他感觉丧失的老年人在运动过程中使用的视觉策略提供基础。这项工作的结果可能对环境改变、视觉康复训练策略、辅助装置设计和老年人跌倒预防的临床相关性具有指导意义。了解老年人选择在何时何地看环境中的关键物体，以及他们需要在何时何地看障碍物、台阶和楼梯之间的差异，将为我们提供基础，创造新的培训计划和更好的环境设计，以减少跌倒的风险。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Declines in visual function with age have recently been linked to decrements in functional mobility and an increased risk of falling in older adults. Despite this knowledge, we know very little about how older adults use visual input to negotiate challenging terrain, surfaces and pathways. Tripping over obstacles, curbs or steps accounts for a large proportion of falls in older adults, and may be linked to inadequate or aberrant visual input. The purpose of this study is to examine the age-related differences in visual gaze patterns and visual input requirements as young and older adults negotiate obstacles, steps and stairs. Eye-tracking technology will be used to monitor precise gaze location with respect to the environmental scene as the subject ambulates over varied terrain. Liquid crystal display glasses will be used to selectively control the visual input subjects receive during key phases of each locomotor task while simultaneously measuring the biomechanics of task performance. Due to the cumulative effects of minor decrements in numerous physiologic systems, it is hypothesized that older adults will be more dependent upon visual input than young adults in order to maintain their balance during locomotor activities of daily living. It is anticipated that this work will provide insight into visually guided locomotion in healthy older adults, and provide the foundation for future work aimed at examining the visual strategies used during locomotion in older adults with low vision, coginitive impairment or other sensory loss. Results from this work could have implications for environmental modifications, visual rehabilitation training strategies, assistive device design and clinical relevance to fall prevention in the elderly. Understanding the differences between when and where older adults choose to look at key objects in their environment and when and where they need to look in order to safely navigate obstacles, steps and stairs will provide us with the foundation create new training programs and better environmental design to reduce the risk of falls.