Effect of gaze behavior in the coupling between visual information and body sway of young and elderly adults

• Grant number: 14/23963-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: February 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal Investigator: Paula Fávaro Polastri Zago
• Grantee: Paula Fávaro Polastri Zago
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências (FC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Studies have shown a near relationship between control of gaze and posture. However, little is known about how gaze behavior affects the postural stability or whether this influence changes over the years. Particularly, eye movements either reduces or increases the body oscillations of both young adults and elderly in different visual tasks which could be associated with the behavior of sight during the search for relevant information in the visual environment. In this case, aging could lead to further changes in the behavior of the eyes and thus deteriorate the performance of posture resulting in falling. The aim of this study, therefore, is to investigate the effect of eye movement in the coupling between visual information and body sway in young and elderly adults. Fifteen young adults and 30 elderly participants (15 elderly fallers and 15 non-fallers elderly) will be positioned on a force platform, inside a moving room. Participant will remain, as stable as possible, looking forward and perform four visual tasks: free gaze (exploratory eye movement), fixation in a target, saccadic eye movements in the horizontal plane (certainty of target location) and saccadic eye movements (uncertainty of uncertainty of target location). Gain, phase, and variability of position and velocity between the visual stimulus and the displacement of the center of pressure (COP) as well as the number and duration of fixations and latency between eye movements and visual stimuli in the same situations described above, will be calculated. ANOVAs will be used to verify the effect of gaze behavior of this coupling and also whether this effect is altered with aging. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RODRIGUES, SERGIO T.; POLASTRI, PAULA F.; GOTARDI, GISELE C.; AGUIAR, STEFANE A.; MESAROS, MARCELO R.; PESTANA, MAYARA B.; BARBIERI, FABIO A.. Postural Control During Cascade Ball Juggling: Effects of Expertise and Base of Support. PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR SKILLS, v. 123, n. 1, p. 279-294, AUG 2016. (15/10851-3, 14/23963-1)

DE SOUZA, NATHALY FREITAS; BRITO, MATHEUS BELIZARIO; RODRIGUES, SERGIO TOSI; CAVALIERI, BEATRIZ CARVALHO; LIMA, DIEGO NERA; DE MORAES, RODOLFO LEMES; BARBIERI, FABIO AUGUSTO; BARELA, JOSE ANGELO; POLASTRI, PAULA FAVARO. accadic eye movement performance reduces visual manipulation influence and center of pressure displacements in older faller. Experimental Brain Research, v. 240, n. 2, NOV 2021. (15/12856-2, 14/23963-1)