About this trial
The purpose of this study is to investigate brain activity during current visual and auditory tasks for balance control. The participants will perform cognitive, gait, and balance measures before the data collection to exclude people with neurological disorders. The participants will wear VR headset which provides visual tasks. The participants will need to maintain balance while performing concurrent visual and auditory tasks. The brain activities, reaction time, and eye-tracking data will be collected during doing our experimental tasks.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
must not have any vestibular, orthopedic or neurological disorders, knee or hip replacements, reports of dizziness, low visual acuity (corrective vision less than 20/40) or require the use of an assistive device for ambulation.
Right-handed
Disqualifiers
Healthy group: have a low fall risk profile based on current available clinical balance and gait assessment tools, such as the MiniBEST and STEADI fall risk self-assessment tool and normal cognitive status using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA > 26/30)
Fall risk group: other medical issues rather than balance problems
Trial population
Healthy younger adults: aged between 25-45 years old Healthy older adults: aged between 65-85 years old Older adults with risks of falls: aged between 65-85 years old
Trial design
Case-control
Prospective
Treatments tested in this trial
Optic Flow Stimulation
Other interventionThe optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.
Auditory Reaction Time
Other interventionTwo different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.
Treatment groups
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
Brain activation of region of interest
The functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) will be used to collect the brain activity in the region of interest. The fNIRS is a non-invasive neuroimaging technology that has been used to study brain activation during dynamic conditions.
Postural Sway
A forceplate will be used to measure the postural sway during static standing conditions.
Reaction time
The auditory choice reaction time task will be used to measure the reaction time. The participant will need to push a button on right hand when hearing a lower pitch of tone and left hand when hearing a higher pitch of tone.
Sponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
Chia-Cheng Lin, PhD, PT, MSPT
Lead sponsor
East Carolina University
Sponsor institution
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Collaborator