The development of visually guided stepping

Mowbray, Rachel; Gottwald, Janna M.; Zhao, Manfei; Atkinson, Anthony P.; Cowie, Dorothy

doi:10.1007/s00221-019-05629-5

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…For example, our sample includes a relatively wide age range (8-15 years) that is likely to encompass children of varying developmental maturation. As the development of visually guided stepping goes through distinct changes throughout these developmental years (Mowbray et al, 2019) we invite caution when extrapolating our findings to children of all ages. We also acknowledge the limitations of selfreported state anxiety in children given developmental aspects of emotional self-perception (Smith et al, 2006).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Show Altered Visuomotor Control During Stair Negotiation Associated With Heightened State Anxiety

Parr

Foster

Wood

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Safe stair negotiation is an everyday task that children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are commonly thought to struggle with. Yet, there is currently a paucity of research supporting these claims. We investigated the visuomotor control strategies underpinning stair negotiation in children with (N = 18, age = 10.50 ± 2.04 years) and without (N = 16, age = 10.94 ± 2.08 years) DCD by measuring kinematics, gaze behavior and state anxiety as they ascended and descended a staircase. A questionnaire was administered to determine parents' confidence in their child's ability to safely navigate stairs and their child's fall history (within the last year). Kinematics were measured using three-dimensional motion capture (Vicon), whilst gaze was measured using mobile eye-tracking equipment (Pupil labs). The parents of DCD children reported significantly lower confidence in their child's ability to maintain balance on the stairs and significantly more stair-related falls in the previous year compared to the parents of typically developing (TD) children. During both stair ascent and stair descent, the children with DCD took longer to ascend/descend the staircase and displayed greater handrail use, reflecting a more cautious stair negotiation strategy. No differences were observed between groups in their margin of stability, but the DCD children exhibited significantly greater variability in their foot-clearances over the step edge, which may increase the risk of a fall. For stair descent only, the DCD children reported significantly higher levels of state anxiety than the TD children and looked significantly further along the staircase during the initial entry phase, suggesting an anxiety-related response that may bias gaze toward the planning of future stepping actions over the accurate execution of an ongoing step. Taken together, our findings provide the first quantifiable evidence that (a) safe stair negotiation is a significant challenge for children with DCD, and that (b) this challenge is reflected by marked differences in their visuomotor control strategies and state anxiety levels. Whilst it is currently unclear whether these differences are contributing to the frequency of stair-related falls in children with DCD, our findings pave the way for future research to answer these important questions.

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Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Show Altered Visuomotor Control During Stair Negotiation Associated With Heightened State Anxiety

Parr

Foster

Wood

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…For example, it is important to acknowledge that our sample size is relatively small, and the age range of our participants is relatively heterogenous. Researchers should therefore take care when extrapolating our findings to children with DCD of all ages given evidence that the control of visually guided stepping goes through distinct changes throughout development ( Mowbray et al, 2019 ) and that adaptations to walking on uneven terrain are better distinguished between DCD and TD individuals at childhood as opposed to adolescence ( Gentle et al, 2016 ). Additionally, developmental aspects of emotional self-perception may question the accuracy of our simple self-report measure of state-anxiety ( Smith et al, 2006 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Exhibit Greater Stepping Error Despite Similar Gaze Patterns and State Anxiety Levels to Their Typically Developing Peers

Parr

Foster

Wood

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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This study examined stepping accuracy, gaze behavior, and state-anxiety in children with (N = 21, age M = 10.81, SD = 1.89) and without (N = 18, age M = 11.39, SD = 2.06) developmental coordination disorder (DCD) during an adaptive locomotion task. Participants walked at a self-selected pace along a pathway, placing their foot into a raised rectangular floor-based target box followed by either no obstacles, one obstacle, or two obstacles. Stepping kinematics and accuracy were determined using three-dimensional motion capture, whilst gaze was determined using mobile eyetracking equipment. The children with DCD displayed greater foot placement error and variability when placing their foot within the target box and were more likely to make contact with its edges than their typically developing (TD) peers. The DCD group also displayed greater variability in the length and width of their steps in the approach to the target box. No differences were observed between groups in any of the gaze variables measured, in mediolateral velocity of the center of mass during the swing phase into the target box, or in the levels of self-reported state-anxiety experienced prior to facing each task. We therefore provide the first quantifiable evidence that deficits to foot placement accuracy and precision may be partially responsible for the increased incidence of trips and falls in DCD, and that these deficits are likely to occur independently from gaze behavior and state-anxiety.

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“…These high-level features are usually studied as part of upper extremity reaching movements (Kalaska et al, 1997;Sabes, 2000;d'Avella and Lacquaniti, 2013). Some researchers have pointed out the duality of steps as (i) part of a cyclical movement pattern of the whole body for locomotion and (ii) a reaching movement with the foot (Reynolds and Day, 2005b,a;Smid and den Otter, 2013;Mowbray et al, 2019;Barton et al, 2019).…”

Section: Modeling Walking Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Modeling Walking Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These high-level features are usually studied as part of upper extremity reaching movements [49, 98, 20]. Some researchers have pointed out the duality of steps as (i) part of a cyclical movement pattern of the whole body for locomotion and (ii) a reaching movement with the foot [97, 96, 104, 75, 7]. Experimental evidence indicates that stepping movements during walking are generated rhythmically using low-level, reflexive structures [77, 47, 133, 107].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Neuromuscular Model of Human Locomotion Combines Spinal Reflex Circuits with Voluntary Movements

Ramadan

Geyer

Jeka

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Existing models of human walking use low-level reflexes or neural oscillators to generate movement. While appropriate to generate the stable, rhythmic movement patterns of steady-state walking, these models lack the ability to change their movement patterns or spontaneously generate new movements in the specific, goal-directed way characteristic of voluntary movements. Here we present a neuromuscular model of human locomotion that bridges this gap and combines the ability to execute goal directed movements with the generation of stable, rhythmic movement patterns that are required for robust locomotion. The model represents goals for voluntary movements of the swing leg on the task level of swing leg joint kinematics. Smooth movements plans towards the goal configuration are generated on the task level and transformed into descending motor commands that execute the planned movements, using internal models. The movement goals and plans are updated in real time based on sensory feedback and task constraints. On the spinal level, the descending commands during the swing phase are integrated with a generic stretch reflex for each muscle. Stance leg control solely relies on dedicated spinal reflex pathways. Spinal reflexes stimulate Hill-type muscles that actuate a biomechanical model with eight internal joints and six free-body degrees of freedom. The model is able to generate voluntary, goal-directed reaching movements with the swing leg and combine multiple movements in a rhythmic sequence. During walking, the swing leg is moved in a goal-directed manner to a target that is updated in real-time based on sensory feedback to maintain upright balance, while the stance leg is stabilized by low-level reflexes and a behavioral organization switching between swing and stance control for each leg. With this combination of reflexive stance leg and voluntary, goal-directed control of the swing leg, the model controller generates rhythmic, stable walking patterns in which the swing leg movement can be flexibly updated in real-time to step over or around obstacles.

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The development of visually guided stepping

Cited by 6 publications

References 66 publications

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Show Altered Visuomotor Control During Stair Negotiation Associated With Heightened State Anxiety

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Show Altered Visuomotor Control During Stair Negotiation Associated With Heightened State Anxiety

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Exhibit Greater Stepping Error Despite Similar Gaze Patterns and State Anxiety Levels to Their Typically Developing Peers

A Neuromuscular Model of Human Locomotion Combines Spinal Reflex Circuits with Voluntary Movements

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