Laboratory for the Interface Between Mobility and Cognition

Main Objectives

The main objective of this lab is to evaluate the role of attention and memory on functional mobility in different patient groups. Attention to secondary tasks has been observed to interfere with postural control and poses more of a problem for people with impairments that require them to dedicate more of their attention on walking and avoiding obstacles. The work performed in this lab studies people with different physical problems (history of falling, Parkinson's disease, and diabetes mellitus) and the ability to predict their performance on posture and walking tasks based on their ability to maintain attention.

People

Dr. Lisa Riolo - PhD, PT, NCSProfessorlriolo@iupui.edu317-278-1875 Biography

Recent Project

Attention Status in Fall Risk in Older Adults

Principal Investigator

Lisa Riolo, PhD, PT, NCS

Funding Source

Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research & Development E2121

This three-year project will address the following research questions:

• Do older people with a history of falling navigate an obstacle course more slowly and with more errors (trips, stops, coming in contact with objects) than age-matched controls?
• What effect does performing a working memory task have on negotiating an obstacle course?
• What is the relationship between visual attention and time to navigate an obstacle course?
• How much variation of fall risk can be explained by a set of risk factors as predictor variables?
• What factors exist that provide a parsimonious description of the relationships among fall risk predictors?

Many falls occur in older adults without identifiable causes. Inattention to a cluttered environment may be a previously unstudied cause for falls. If multi-task conditions are difficult for the aging population, then falls are going to be common unless elderly people receive training to increase attention or to reduce clutter in their environments. If a relationship between visual attention and/or working memory and difficulty negotiating an obstacle course is identified, we will develop and test interventions directed at these deficits in order to reduce fall risk.

Thus, this line of research has potential to reduce the disability and injury related to falls in the aging population. Future studies will develop and test the effects of rehabilitation interventions directed at attention and working memory on fall risk and validate the model of fall risk using a prospective study of fall occurrence.