State-of-the-Art: Patients with Parkinson’s disease and older adults show deficits with dynamic weight shifting, which is inherent to gait difficulties and falling. For a long time, such postural control was considered an automatic, reflex-controlled task, suggesting minimal input from attentional resources. However, dual-task paradigms have shown a significant attentional demand, which is age- and disease-dependent. In addition, little is known about the ability to relearn fluent weight shifting, let alone the mechanisms underlying postural motor learning in aging. Therefore, studying the muscle coordination and activation patterns, as well as the neural mechanisms, is of great importance to increase our understanding of balance control.

Approach:

The current project aims to gain novel insights in the behavioral and neural correlates of weight-shifting difficulties. In addition, this project wants to generate knowledge on the practice and consolidation effects of weight shifting and their imprint on the brain. We will use a virtual reality game (WASP task) to assess and practice weight shifting skills during various conditions, such as different speeds with and without a dual-task. In addition, we will use EMG to measure muscle activation patterns and fNIRS to measure alterations in brain activity. The results of this project may form a basis for implementing technology-based motor learning to improve specific problems of postural instability.