This proposal outlines a program of research designed to investigate how visual information is used to guide locomotion to ensure safe and efficient navigation through the environment. More specifically, the long-term objective is to investigate the adaptive mechanisms that allow people to perform basic locomotor tasks in the face of variations in the dynamics of the body and the environment. Actors'movement capabilities are continually changing over both short and long time-scales as a result of injury, disease, neurological damage, aging, fatigue, growth, changes in load, and so on. Such variability has non-trivial consequences for the visual control of locomotion. The ability to adapt to these changes plays an essential role in supporting safe and efficient locomotion, and reducing the need for jerky, corrective movements that often result in losing balance, falling, and colliding with obstacles. An important next step in understanding the visual control of locomotion is to investigate how people perceive the world and control their movement in ways that take into account their ever-changing movement capabilities. The research described in this proposal is aimed at addressing the following questions about locomotor adaptation: (1) What components of optic flow drive adaptation to changes in locomotor capabilities? (2) To what extent does adaptation generalize to conditions and tasks that differ from those in which learning occurs? (3) To what extent should we attribute the reliability with which people take their movement capabilities into account to (a) internal adaptive mechanisms, and (b) information about one's locomotor capabilities that is picked up on the fly? Experiments will be conducted in a large-area virtual environment laboratory equipped with a head-mounted display and motion tracking equipment. Subjects will perform a variety of locomotor tasks, including turning toward goals, avoiding obstacles, intercepting moving targets, regulating gait to step on safe footholds, and selecting routes. The results will provide a foundation of knowledge for understanding the development, acquisition, and maintenance of locomotor skills, and for improving therapy programs that promote adaptation to changes that affect one's locomotor capabilities.

Public Health Relevance

Locomotion is an integral part of many routine, daily activities. Changes in movement capabilities brought about by aging, injury, disease, fatigue, or use of a prosthetic limb pose a serious threat to one's ability to safely and efficiently navigate through complex, dynamic environments. The ability to adapt to these changes plays an essential role in supporting safe and efficient locomotion, and reducing the need for jerky, corrective movements that often result in losing balance, falling, and colliding with obstacles. The research described in this proposal is aimed at understanding the mechanisms that allow for adaptation of the visual-locomotor system. The results of this project will provide a basis for designing physical and occupational therapy programs that promote rapid and complete adaptation, allowing people whose movement capabilities become impaired to recover basic locomotor functions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY019317-04
Application #
8304144
Study Section
Cognition and Perception Study Section (CP)
Program Officer
Wiggs, Cheri
Project Start
2009-09-30
Project End
2014-09-29
Budget Start
2012-09-30
Budget End
2014-09-29
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$184,711
Indirect Cost
$64,711
Name
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
002430742
City
Troy
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
12180
Matthis, Jonathan Samir; Barton, Sean L; Fajen, Brett R (2017) The critical phase for visual control of human walking over complex terrain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:E6720-E6729
Matthis, Jonathan Samir; Barton, Sean L; Fajen, Brett R (2015) The biomechanics of walking shape the use of visual information during locomotion over complex terrain. J Vis 15:
Matthis, Jonathan S; Fajen, Brett R (2014) Visual control of foot placement when walking over complex terrain. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 40:106-15
Matthis, Jonathan Samir; Fajen, Brett R (2013) Humans exploit the biomechanics of bipedal gait during visually guided walking over complex terrain. Proc Biol Sci 280:20130700
Fajen, Brett R; Matthis, Jonathan S (2013) Visual and non-visual contributions to the perception of object motion during self-motion. PLoS One 8:e55446
Fajen, Brett R; Parade, Melissa S; Matthis, Jonathan S (2013) Humans perceive object motion in world coordinates during obstacle avoidance. J Vis 13:
Fath, Aaron J; Fajen, Brett R (2011) Static and dynamic visual information about the size and passability of an aperture. Perception 40:887-904
Fajen, Brett R; Matthis, Jonathan S (2011) Direct perception of action-scaled affordances: the shrinking gap problem. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 37:1442-57
Liton, Paloma B; Li, Guorong; Luna, Coralia et al. (2009) Cross-talk between TGF-beta1 and IL-6 in human trabecular meshwork cells. Mol Vis 15:326-34