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Adaptation of brain and body responses to perturbations during gait in young and older adults

Award Number: R01AG054621
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2017
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2023

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Adaptation of brain and body responses to perturbations during gait in young and older adults - There is a need to understand how the brain responds and adapts to losses of balance and missteps during walking as we age. This knowledge could help improve fall interventions and advance gait rehabilitation therapies. We propose to use electroencephalography (EEG) and independent components analysis (ICA) to identify and quantify brain responses to perturbations during walking and recumbent stepping, a locomotor task often used in clinics. We will test healthy young and older adults while we record their brain activity using EEG, muscle activity using electromyography (EMG), and body kinematics using motion capture as we perturb their stepping pattern. The perturbations will create stepping errors that will drive adaptation because people often update movements to minimize movement errors. We will use a typical motor adaptation protocol. For Aim 1, we will determine the electrocortical correlates of adapting to perturbations applied during rhythmic lower limb stepping on a recumbent stepper. We will use a robotic recumbent stepper to apply brief resistive force perturbations during specific instances in the stepping cycle. We hypothesize that A) a distributed network of brain regions is involved and includes the anterior cingulate, a brain structure associated with error monitoring; B) young and older adults will reduce stepping errors indicating that they adapted to the perturbations with repeated practice, and brain processes will have larger spectral fluctuations and shift to begin prior to the perturbation during perturbed stepping compared to unperturbed stepping; and C) older adults will use greater muscle coactivation, adapt less well, and have smaller and delayed spectral fluctuations of brain processes compared to young adults. For Aim 2, we will determine the electrocortical correlates of adapting to perturbations applied during walking. We will use a treadmill that can simulate slips and trips in the mediolateral (side-to-side) and anterior-posterior (forwards/backwards) directions to create perturbations during specific instances in the gait cycle. To address potential movement artifact concerns that may be created by the perturbations, we will first block the electrophysiological signals and record isolated movement artifact using the EEG system to characterize the movement artifact in our setup and protocol. This knowledge will help with the analysis and interpretation of the scalp EEG data and may help develop algorithms to remove the movement artifact from EEG signals. In addition to the hypotheses in Aim 1, we have specific hypotheses related to balance control during walking. We hypothesize that the left sensorimotor cortex will have larger spectral fluctuations during perturbed walking compared to unperturbed walking and will be more sensitive to mediolateral perturbations compared to anterior-posterior perturbations. The results of the proposed work will advance our knowledge of brain function in young and older adults by determining adaptation of electrocortical responses to perturbations during walking and a locomotor task. These findings could be applied to develop new fall interventions and gait rehabilitation therapies based on brain dynamics.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2021	THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES	4000 CENTRAL FLORIDA BLVD	ORLANDO	FL	32816	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	5	1/9/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $296,369 )
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE	4000 CENTRAL FLORIDA BLVD	ORLANDO	FL	32816	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	5	5/20/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$296,369
														Subtotal = $296,369

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $296,742 )
2020	2020	UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE	4000 CENTRAL FLORIDA BLVD	ORLANDO	FL	32816	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	4	5/22/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$296,742
														Subtotal = $296,742

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $297,486 )
2019	2019	UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE	4000 CNTRL FLORIDA BLVD	ORLANDO	FL	32816	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	3	6/3/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$297,486
														Subtotal = $297,486

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $299,455 )
2018	2018	UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE	4000 CNTRL FLORIDA BLVD	ORLANDO	FL	32816	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	2	6/8/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$299,455
														Subtotal = $299,455

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $304,661 )
2017	2017	UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE	4000 CNTRL FLORIDA BLVD	ORLANDO	FL	32816	ORANGE	USA	Aging Research	000	1	8/28/2017	NEW	$304,661
														Subtotal = $304,661

Grand Total All Awards = $1,494,713

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Adaptation of brain and body responses to perturbations during gait in young and older adults

Award Number: R01AG054621

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2017

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2023

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