TY - JOUR

T1 - Neuromotor Dynamics of Human Locomotion in Challenging Settings

AU - Santuz, Alessandro

AU - Brüll, Leon

AU - Ekizos, Antonis

AU - Schroll, Arno

AU - Eckardt, Nils

AU - Kibele, Armin

AU - Schwenk, Michael

AU - Arampatzis, Adamantios

N1 - Funding information: We thank Juri Taborri for the tireless contribution to different parts of the measurements and are grateful to all the participants who showed great commitment and interest during the experiments and to DAAD for the financial support during the publication process. We disclose any professional relationship with companies or manufacturers who might benefit from the results of the present study. Conceptualization: A. Santuz, L.B. A.E. M.S. and A.A.; Data Curation: A. Santuz, A.E. N.E.; Formal Analysis: A. Santuz; Investigation: A. Santuz, L.B. A.E. and N.E.; Methodology: A. Santuz, A.E. A. Schroll, and A.A.; Project administration: A. Santuz, A.K. M.S. and A.A.; Resources: A. Santuz, L.B. N.E. A.K. M.S. and A.A.; Software: A. Santuz; Supervision: A. Santuz, and A.A.; Validation: A. Santuz; Visualization: A. Santuz; Writing – Original Draft: A. Santuz and A.A.; Writing – Review & Editing: A. Santuz, L.B. A.E. A. Schroll, N.E. A.K. M.S. and A.A. The authors declare no competing interests.

PY - 2019/12/24

Y1 - 2019/12/24

N2 - Is the control of movement less stable when we walk or run in challenging settings? Intuitively, one might answer that it is, given that challenging locomotion externally (e.g., rough terrain) or internally (e.g., age-related impairments) makes our movements more unstable. Here, we investigated how young and old humans synergistically activate muscles during locomotion when different perturbation levels are introduced. Of these control signals, called muscle synergies, we analyzed the local stability and the complexity (or irregularity) over time. Surprisingly, we found that perturbations force the central nervous system to produce muscle activation patterns that are less unstable and less complex. These outcomes show that robust locomotion control in challenging settings is achieved by producing less complex control signals that are more stable over time, whereas easier tasks allow for more unstable and irregular control.

AB - Is the control of movement less stable when we walk or run in challenging settings? Intuitively, one might answer that it is, given that challenging locomotion externally (e.g., rough terrain) or internally (e.g., age-related impairments) makes our movements more unstable. Here, we investigated how young and old humans synergistically activate muscles during locomotion when different perturbation levels are introduced. Of these control signals, called muscle synergies, we analyzed the local stability and the complexity (or irregularity) over time. Surprisingly, we found that perturbations force the central nervous system to produce muscle activation patterns that are less unstable and less complex. These outcomes show that robust locomotion control in challenging settings is achieved by producing less complex control signals that are more stable over time, whereas easier tasks allow for more unstable and irregular control.

KW - Behavioral Neuroscience

KW - Biological Sciences

KW - Neuroscience

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077990427&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2019.100796

DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2019.100796

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85077990427

VL - 23

JO - iScience

JF - iScience

IS - 1

M1 - 100796

ER -