Effects of supraspinal feedback on human gait: rhythmic auditory distortion
Name
12984_2019_Article_632.pdf
Size
2.79 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
7334ca53fb7a43c5c785b3661de941fb
Author(s)
Forner-Cordero, Arturo
Pinho, João P
Umemura, Guilherme
Lourenço, João C
Mezêncio, Bruno
Itiki, Cinthia
Krebs, Hermano Igo
Date Issued
December 23, 2019
Journal
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
Publisher
BioMed Central
Citation
Forner-Cordero, Arturo et al. "Effects of supraspinal feedback on human gait: rhythmic auditory distortion." Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 16 (Dec. 2019): no, 159 doi 10.1186/s12984-019-0632-7 ©2019 Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Different types of sound cues have been used to adapt the human gait rhythm. We investigated whether young healthy volunteers followed subliminal metronome rhythm changes during gait. METHODS: Twenty-two healthy adults walked at constant speed on a treadmill following a metronome sound cue (period 566 msec). The metronome rhythm was then either increased or decreased, without informing the subjects, at 1 msec increments or decrements to reach, respectively, a low (596 msec) or a high frequency (536 msec) plateaus. After 30 steps at one of these isochronous conditions, the rhythm returned to the original period with decrements or increments of 1 msec. Motion data were recorded with an optical measurement system to determine footfall. The relative phase between sound cue (stimulus) and foot contact (response) were compared. RESULTS: Gait was entrained to the rhythmic auditory stimulus and subjects subconsciously adapted the step time and length to maintain treadmill speed, while following the rhythm changes. In most cases there was a lead error: the foot contact occurred before the sound cue. The mean error or the absolute mean relative phase increased during the isochronous high (536 msec) or low frequencies (596 msec). CONCLUSION: These results showed that the gait period is strongly “entrained” with the first metronome rhythm while subjects still followed metronome changes with larger error. This suggests two processes: one slow-adapting, supraspinal oscillator with persistence that predicts the foot contact to occur ahead of the stimulus, and a second fast process linked to sensory inputs that adapts to the mismatch between peripheral sensory input (foot contact) and supraspinal sensory input (auditory rhythm).
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-019-0632-7
