Historically, locomotion research focused on walking over flat ground at constant speed, which did not capture the complex adaptations that are required in order to traverse typical, cluttered environments. Our research has demonstrated that locomotor control is primarily implemented proactively, rather than reactively. These proactive adaptations are based on the visually observable properties of the environment and the task demands. My research has shown that enhanced visual cues facilitated locomotor behavior when stepping over an obstacle and there is an apparent trade-off between strategies to gather visual information and trunk control as a function of a load-carrying task.
PI – Dr. Shirley Rietdyk
Collaborators – Dr. Jeffrey Haddad
Students – Nate Romine, HyeYoung Cho, Michel Heijnen, Sam Pontecorvo, Brittney Muir, Chris Rhea.
