Stride-to-stride time intervals are independently affected by the temporal pattern and probability distribution of visual cues

Peter C Raffalt; Joel H Sommerfeld; Nick Stergiou; Aaron D Likens

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2022.136909

Stride-to-stride time intervals are independently affected by the temporal pattern and probability distribution of visual cues

Neurosci Lett. 2023 Jan 1:792:136909. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2022.136909. Epub 2022 Oct 10.

Authors

Peter C Raffalt¹, Joel H Sommerfeld², Nick Stergiou³, Aaron D Likens⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark; Department of Biomechanics and Center for Research in Human Movement Variability, Division of Biomechanics and Research Development, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6160 University Drive South, Omaha, NE 68182, USA.
² Department of Biomechanics and Center for Research in Human Movement Variability, Division of Biomechanics and Research Development, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6160 University Drive South, Omaha, NE 68182, USA.
³ Department of Biomechanics and Center for Research in Human Movement Variability, Division of Biomechanics and Research Development, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6160 University Drive South, Omaha, NE 68182, USA; Department of Environmental, Agricultural, and Occupational Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 984388 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA.
⁴ Department of Biomechanics and Center for Research in Human Movement Variability, Division of Biomechanics and Research Development, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6160 University Drive South, Omaha, NE 68182, USA. Electronic address: alikens@unomaha.edu.

Abstract

The temporal structure of the variability of the stride-to-stride time intervals during paced walking is affected by the underlying autocorrelation function (ACF) of the pacing signal. This effect could be accounted for by differences in the underlying probability distribution function (PDF) of the pacing signal. We investigated the isolated and combined effect of the ACF and PDF of the pacing signals on the temporal structure of the stride-to-stride time intervals during visually guided paced overground walking. Ten young, healthy participants completed four walking trials while synchronizing their footstep to a visual pacing signal with a temporal pattern of either pink or white noise (different ACF) and either a Gaussian or normal probability distribution (different PDF). The scaling exponent from the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis was used to quantify the temporal structure of the stride-to-stride time intervals. The ACF and PDF of the pacing signals had independent effects on the scaling exponent of the stride-to-stride time intervals. The scaling exponent was higher during the pink noise pacing trials compared to the white noise pacing trials and higher during the trials with the Gaussian probability distribution compared to the uniform distribution. The results suggest that the sensorimotor system in healthy young individuals has an affinity towards external cues with a pink noise pattern and a Gaussian probability distribution during paced walking.

Keywords: Fractal: Gait; Metronome; Paced Walking; Variability; Visual Cues.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Cues*
Gait*
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Likelihood Functions
Walking

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding