Artigo
Effects of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults
Registro en:
Psychology & Neuroscience, v. 8, n. 1, p. 19-27, 2015.
1983-3288
10.1037/h0100352
ISSN1983-3288-2015-08-01-19-27.pdf
1652339643129712
3519033218606454
0184563925177710
0000-0003-2007-5950
Autor
Aguiar, Stefane Aline
Polastri, Paula Fávaro [UNESP]
Godoi, Daniela
Moraes, Renato
Barela, José Angelo [UNESP]
Rodrigues, Sérgio Tosi [UNESP]
Resumen
Saccadic eye movements have been shown to affect posture by decreasing the magnitude of body sway in young adults. However, there is no evidence of how the search for visual information that occurs during eye movements affects postural control in older adults. The purpose of the present study was to determine the influence of saccadic eye movements on postural control in older adults while they stood on 2 different bases of support. Twelve older adults stood upright in 70-s trials under 2 stance conditions (wide and narrow) and 3 gaze conditions (fixation, saccadic eye movements at 0.5 Hz, and saccadic eye movements at 1.1 Hz). Head and trunk sway amplitude and mean sway frequency were measured in both the anterior/posterior (AP) and medial/lateral (ML) directions. The results showed that the amplitude of body sway was reduced during saccades compared with fixation, as previously observed in young adults. However, older adults exhibited similar sway amplitude and frequency in the AP direction under the wide and narrow stance conditions, which is different from observations in young adults, who display larger sway in a narrow stance compared with a wide stance while performing saccades. These results suggest that although older adults are affected by saccadic eye movements by a decrease in the amplitude of body sway, as observed in young adults, they present a more rigid postural control strategy that does not allow larger sway during a more challenging stance condition. Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, São Paulo, SP, Brasil Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Faculdade de Ciências (FC), Departamento de Educação Física, Av. Eng. Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube, 14-01, Vargem Limpa, CEP 17033360, Bauru, SP, Brasil Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), Departamento de Educação Física e Motricidade Humana, São Carlos, SP, Brasil Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Escola de Educação Física e Esporte de Ribeirão Preto (EEFERP), Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Instituto de Biociências de Rio Claro (IBRC), Departamento de Educação Física, Rio Claro, SP, Brasil Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Faculdade de Ciências (FC), Departamento de Educação Física, Av. Eng. Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube, 14-01, Vargem Limpa, CEP 17033360, Bauru, SP, Brasil Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Instituto de Biociências de Rio Claro (IBRC), Departamento de Educação Física, Rio Claro, SP, Brasil