Seminar 2007 10 17 Brain Adapts

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CISST ERC Seminar
Understanding how the brain adapts the human walking pattern

Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Time: 12:00pm
Place: CSEB B17 (Lunch will be served)

Speaker: Amy Bastian
Kennedy Krieger Institute
Title: Understanding how the brain adapts the human walking pattern
Presentation: PDF, not yet uploaded

Abstract

Fundamental locomotor mechanisms are likely shared across animal species, but the unique demands of biped human walking may require specific neural control processes. We propose that study of human neurological deficits offers important insights into these control processes, while providing essential information for rehabilitation of people with gait disorders. Here I will address human locomotor learning mechanisms via studies of inter-limb adaptation using a split-belt treadmill. I will describe adaptation effects during walking and show that they generalize in a specific way to other gait forms, suggesting incomplete sharing of circuits involved in generation of multiple locomotor patterns. I will also describe results showing only partial and transient generalization from treadmill to free space walking, and that free space walking does not wash out learned patterns on the treadmill. This suggests that the adapted representation is partially tied to the training device which will has important consequences for using devices for rehabilitation. Finally, I will show that the locomotor adaptation process depends on specific neural structures and data suggesting the utility of these techniques for rehabilitation.

Bio

Dr. Bastian is a physical therapist and neuroscientist who studies the neural control of human movement. She has a special interest in cerebellar motor disorders, stroke, motor learning, and walking control. Her PhD training was at Washington University in St. Louis with W. Thomas Thach. She then joined the faculty at Washington University for several years before moving to Johns Hopkins. She is now the Director of the Motion Analysis Laboratory at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Associate Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins, with joint appointments in Neuroscience and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Her research uses computerized movement tracking techniques and novel devices to control walking and reaching movements. She studies how humans with and without neurological damage control movement and learn new patterns.