TY - JOUR A1 - Hortobagyi, Tibor A1 - Uematsu, Azusa A1 - Sanders, Lianne A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Tollar, Jozsef A1 - Moraes, Renato A1 - Granacher, Urs T1 - Beam Walking to Assess Dynamic Balance in Health and Disease BT - a Protocol for the "BEAM" Multicenter Observational Study JF - Gerontology N2 - Background: Dynamic balance keeps the vertical projection of the center of mass within the base of support while walking. Dynamic balance tests are used to predict the risks of falls and eventual falls. The psychometric properties of most dynamic balance tests are unsatisfactory and do not comprise an actual loss of balance while walking. Objectives: Using beam walking distance as a measure of dynamic balance, the BEAM consortium will determine the psychometric properties, lifespan and patient reference values, the relationship with selected “dynamic balance tests,” and the accuracy of beam walking distance to predict falls. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study will examine healthy adults in 7 decades (n = 432) at 4 centers. Center 5 will examine patients (n = 100) diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and balance disorders. In test 1, all participants will be measured for demographics, medical history, muscle strength, gait, static balance, dynamic balance using beam walking under single (beam walking only) and dual task conditions (beam walking while concurrently performing an arithmetic task), and several cognitive functions. Patients and healthy participants age 50 years or older will be additionally measured for fear of falling, history of falls, miniBESTest, functional reach on a force platform, timed up and go, and reactive balance. All participants age 50 years or older will be recalled to report fear of falling and fall history 6 and 12 months after test 1. In test 2, seven to ten days after test 1, healthy young adults and age 50 years or older (n = 40) will be retested for reliability of beam walking performance. Conclusion: We expect to find that beam walking performance vis-à-vis the traditionally used balance outcomes predicts more accurately fall risks and falls. Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT03532984. KW - Aging KW - Gait KW - Balance KW - Dual tasks KW - Falls Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1159/000493360 SN - 0304-324X SN - 1423-0003 VL - 65 IS - 4 SP - 332 EP - 339 PB - Karger CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - von der Malsburg, Titus Raban A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - Determinants of Scanpath Regularity in Reading JF - Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society N2 - Scanpaths have played an important role in classic research on reading behavior. Nevertheless, they have largely been neglected in later research perhaps due to a lack of suitable analytical tools. Recently, von der Malsburg and Vasishth (2011) proposed a new measure for quantifying differences between scanpaths and demonstrated that this measure can recover effects that were missed with the traditional eyetracking measures. However, the sentences used in that study were difficult to process and scanpath effects accordingly strong. The purpose of the present study was to test the validity, sensitivity, and scope of applicability of the scanpath measure, using simple sentences that are typically read from left to right. We derived predictions for the regularity of scanpaths from the literature on oculomotor control, sentence processing, and cognitive aging and tested these predictions using the scanpath measure and a large database of eye movements. All predictions were confirmed: Sentences with short words and syntactically more difficult sentences elicited more irregular scanpaths. Also, older readers produced more irregular scanpaths than younger readers. In addition, we found an effect that was not reported earlier: Syntax had a smaller influence on the eye movements of older readers than on those of young readers. We discuss this interaction of syntactic parsing cost with age in terms of shifts in processing strategies and a decline of executive control as readers age. Overall, our results demonstrate the validity and sensitivity of the scanpath measure and thus establish it as a productive and versatile tool for reading research. KW - Eye movements KW - Reading KW - Scanpaths KW - Language understanding KW - Oculo-motor control KW - Individual differences KW - Aging KW - Development Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12208 SN - 0364-0213 SN - 1551-6709 VL - 39 IS - 7 SP - 1675 EP - 1703 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -