Brandenbarg, P. (Pim) (2014) Proactive use of the minimal foot displacement criterion. thesis, Medicine.
Full text available on request.Abstract
The goal of the current study was to determine whether people make use of minimal foot displacement under non-time critical conditions, and to establish whether the time and space available to make step adjustments affects the employment of the minimal foot displacement criterion, when avoiding stepping on an obstacle. Participants (N=14) walked a straight trajectory (length: 12 meters), and were instructed to avoid stepping on a virtual obstacle that appeared unexpectedly during the trial. The length of the obstacle was held constant and normalized to 40% of the participants’ leg length, and obstacle position was varied in order to avoid stereotyped responses. The presentation time was varied systematically, which were divided into three categories during the analysis: trials were the obstacle appeared 0-2 steps, 3-5 steps and ≥6 steps before the participant reached the obstacle. From 3D position data the amount of adjustment made and the amount of adjustment required conform the minimal foot displacement criterion, were calculated. The results show a significant relation between the amount of adjustment made and amount of adjustment required conform the minimal foot displacement criterion for the category ≥6 steps before reaching the obstacle from 3 steps before the obstacle (p = .001) and for the category 3-5 steps before reaching the obstacle from 2 steps before the obstacle (p > .001). No significant interaction effect was found between presentation time and number of step before the obstacle (p >.05), indicating that the time and space available to make step adjustments did not affect the employment of the minimal foot displacement criterion. These findings show people are capable of perceiving where their future, unregulated foot landing location will be relative to the obstacle, three steps before crossing it. Furthermore, people use this information to make adjustments that follow the minimal foot displacement criterion.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Otter, A.R. den |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2022 11:33 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Apr 2022 11:33 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3070 |
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