Postuma, E.M.J.L. (Eva) (2020) Explicit information and feedback does not boost locomotor adaptation in young children. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Introduction Young children, until 11 years old, adapt their spatial walking pattern slower than adults in response to split-belt perturbation. Research has suggested that children’s slow adaptation may be due to under-development or inability of explicit learning. Stimulating explicit learning may even boost fast spatial adaptation in children. This study investigates the influence of explicit information and feedback on the locomotor adaptation in young children (6-9yrs). Method 7 Adults, and 16 children were tested in a split-belt paradigm. The children were equally divided into a children-explicit and children-control group. The children-explicit group received information on ‘keeping step lengths equal’ and was given intermittent feedback by a real-time video projection of their walking pattern. Results Adults showed faster spatial gait symmetry than the combined children groups (p<0.01). However, between the children-explicit and children-control groups, no difference was found in adaptation rate (p=0.314), indicating that the explicit information and feedback did not speed up spatial locomotor adaption in young children. Children groups combined also showed higher stride-to-stride variability (p<0.01) and step cadence (p<0.05) than adults. Conclusion The children in this study were probably not able to use the explicit information and feedback to boost spatial locomotor adaptation, because they were not able to detect task-errors due to a high stride-to-stride variability. Next to neural under-development, children’s high step cadence may play a role in their deviations of the adaptation process from adults. Future research will provide more insights into the influence of step cadence on the locomotor adaptation process.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 20 May 2022 09:33 |
| Last Modified: | 20 May 2022 09:33 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3373 |
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