Ongoing Projects

Identifying the computational processes that describe how healthy young and older adults choose between risky alternatives during walking

Here, we apply computational models of risky decision-making from behavioral economics to reveal the cognitive processes underlying risk assessment and decision-making during walking. Walking is an inherently risky activity that has previously been described as a series of “controlled falls” as the center of mass constantly moves outside the base of support, adding uncertainty to the potential outcome of every step. Features of the external environment such as obstacles and uneven surfaces and changes in body structure and function due to aging can both increase the risk of falling while walking. We study the effects of aging and neurological injury on the cognitive processes underlying risk assessment and decision-making during walking and investigate whether inappropriate decisions are an important contributor to increased fall risk in these populations.

Determining how physical risk influences the trade-off between speed and accuracy during precision walking

The speed-accuracy tradeoff has been extensively demonstrated in motor tasks involving control of gaze, reaching, and stepping. While visual processing limitations and force-dependent variability have been proposed to drive the tradeoff in upper-extremity aiming tasks, it remains to be seen to what extent these mechanisms apply to gait. The need to maintain balance and the natural relationship between step lengths and walking speed present unique factors that may interact with those thought to generate speed-accuracy trade-offs during upper extremity tasks. Here, we use a novel precision-walking task to examine the factors that drive the speed-accuracy tradeoff during walking and how this factors change with age.

Publications

1. Jain S, Schweighofer N, Finley JM. (2024). Aberrant Decision-Making as a Risk Factor for Falls in Aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 24:16:1384242.
2. Liu C, Valero-Cuevas F, Finley JM. Generalizability of foot-placement control strategies during unperturbed and perturbed gait. Royal Society Open Science. 11: 231210.
3. Cornwell T, Novotny R, Finley JM. (2024). Associations between asymmetry and reactive balance control during split-belt walking. Journal of Biomechanics. 172:112221.
4. Lee-Confer JS, Finley JM, Kulig K, Powers C. Reactive Responses of the Arms Increase the Margins of Stability and Decrease Center of Mass Dynamics During a Slip Perturbation. J Biomech. 157:111737.
5. Liu C and Finley JM. (2022). The choice of reference axis for computing angular momentum during walking affects inferences about patterns of intersegmental coordination during walking. PeerJ. 10:e13371.
6. Park S, Finley JM. (2022). Manual stabilization reveals a transient role for balance control during locomotor adaptation. Journal of Neurophysiology. 128: 808 – 818.
7. N Sánchez, S Simha, JM Donelan, JM Finley. (2021). Using asymmetry to your advantage: learning to acquire and accept external assistance during prolonged split-belt walking. J Neurophysiol. 2021 Feb 1;125(2):344-357. 
8. Liu C and Finley JM (2020). Asymmetric gait patterns alter the control of intersegmental coordination in response to perturbations during walking. PLOS One; 15(5):e0224187
9. Sanchez, N., Simha, S. N., Donelan, J. M., & Finley, J. M. (2019). Taking advantage of external mechanical work to reduce metabolic cost: the mechanics and energetics of split‐belt treadmill walking. The Journal of physiology.
10. C. Liu,  L. De Macedo, and  J. M. Finley. (2018). Conservation of Reactive Stabilization Strategies in the Presence of Step Length Asymmetries during Walking. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 251.
11. Havens KL, Mukherjee T, Finley JM. Analysis of biases in dynamic margins of stability introduced by the use of simplified center of mass estimates during walking and turning. Gait and Posture, 59, 162-167.
12. N. Sánchez, S. Park, and J.M. Finley (2017). Evidence of Energetic Optimization during Adaptation Differs for Metabolic, Mechanical, and Perceptual Estimates of Energetic Cost. Scientific Reports. 7(1):7682.
13. S. Park and J.M. Finley. (2017). Characterizing dynamic balance during adaptive locomotor learning. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 1: 50-53

Funding