THE GOALKEEPING GAME AS A TOOL FOR PREDICTING THE DECLINE OF AUTOMATICITY OF GAIT IN PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

• Grant number: 24/15842-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Maria Elisa Pimentel Piemonte
• Grantee: Milena Satie Miamoto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07699-0 - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics - NeuroMat, AP.CEPID

Abstract

Among the dysfunctions resulting from Parkinson's Disease (PD), impairments of the gait are strongly associated with the decrease in independence in activities of daily life and, consequently, a reduction in the quality of life of patients and their family members. In part, gait impairment is due to disability automaticity, that is, the ability of the nervous system to coordinate, with success, movements with minimal attentional resources, also affected by PD. This deficiency makes patients increasingly dependent on attentional control while performing routine motor tasks such as walking. The implicit learning is the process by which we build automatic skill control motor, cognitive and social, being fundamental from childhood to old age. Few studies have investigated the association between implicit learning and decline in control automatic gait in people with PD. Performance in a game computer game called the Goalkeeper Game (JG), developed by CEPID NeuroMat to evaluate implicit probabilistic learning, it was shown to be capable of predicting the gait performance in complex conditions (walking while managing obstacles) in people with PD. Although walking in complex conditions increases the demand for cognitive functions, do not directly evaluate automatic gait control.