This project seeks to determine how post-stroke cognitive impairment moderates motor learning during walking in older adults with chronic stroke and identify brain structural markers that mediate this relationship. The chosen experimental design integrates biomechanical analyses, neuropsychological assessments, and brain imaging techniques to determine the impact of post-stroke cognitive impairment severity on two forms of motor learning (explicit and implicit) and examine the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the relationship between cognition and explicit motor learning. Ultimately, this work may lead to the development of a more comprehensive, effective treatment approach to improve walking dysfunction in older adults post-stroke.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
65
Participants will be provided with visual feedback of their right and left step lengths on a screen in front of a treadmill.
Participants will walk on a treadmill that drives their right and left legs to move at two different speeds.
Center for Health Professions
Los Angeles, California, United States
RECRUITINGstep length asymmetry - change in performance
characterized as a comparison between the right and left step lengths; captured to quantify change in performance with biofeedback or split belt walking
Time frame: Measured at three timepoints of interest within each testing session: baseline and at the beginning and end of the interventions; participants will complete 2 testing sessions over approximately 1 months
step length asymmetry - immediate retention
characterized as a comparison between the right and left step lengths; captured to quantify the retention of a newly learned walking pattern
Time frame: Measured after motor learning in each testing session; participants will complete 2 testing sessions over approximately 1 months
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