Control and organization of anticipatory locomotor adjustments

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

While seemingly simple and not requiring much thought, walking is the result of many different functions to sense the world and body, plan and adapt actions and execute muscle activity and limb movements. Although the focus of study for many years, we still do not fully understand these functions and how they are organized into coordinated movement. The long-term goal of my research program is to improve our understanding or how we control and adapt our walking from birth to old age. Over the next five years, this research program will focus on specific questions about how young healthy adults control lower limb movements and coordinate body displacement to step over, onto and around obstructions. The main areas of interest will be a) how we coordinate and control specific parts of the lower limb and body to step over and onto physical obstructions; b) how such control is possibly correlated with brain function; c) how we plan and adapt whole body navigation of complex environments; and d) whether there are global rules common to different modes of navigation (e.g., walking, wheelchair, driving). Young to middle aged adults will be exposed to innovative real and virtual reality environments imposing different walking tasks across the studies during the program. All studies will involve measuring three-dimensional movements. Studies of lower limb control will also involve estimating muscle forces and one study will begin to look at surface activity of certain brain areas in relation to planning and executing obstacle avoidance. Other studies will look at the navigation around complex environments while walking, and others while rolling in a wheelchair. Eye movements will also be recorded in relation to anticipatory gaze behaviour. These latter studies will allow us to compare patterns of whole body navigation across different modes of movement (even when not walking) as well as to lower limb control to speak to general principles of control. The expected results of this program have great potential to advance our basic knowledge of this common, but not well understood, daily activity from new perspectives. It also has potential for wide ranging applications from robotics to architecture to biomedical engineering.