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

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA · 2021 · $296,369

## Abstract

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 de...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10170181
- **Project number:** 5R01AG054621-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Helen J Huang
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $296,369
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10170181

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10170181, Adaptation of brain and body responses to perturbations during gait in young and older adults (5R01AG054621-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10170181. Licensed CC0.

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