Long-range correlations in temporal sequences – designing auditory cues for locomotion
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1
VU University Amsterdam, Human Movement Science, Netherlands
The temporal correlation structure of consecutive events may contain valuable information about the functional organization of the dynamics generating these events. The presence of power law distributions or 1/f noise, in systems diverse as neural activity in cortex and muscle, or even kinematics is considered a generic marker of healthy and adaptive performance. Many experimental studies provided evidence that (persistent) long-range correlations change with task and environmental constraints. Clinical studies have successfully linked temporal correlation structures of motor events to (the severity of) different pathologies like Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease. With respect to the latter, auditory cueing is often assumed beneficial for gait stability. Stride length, cadence, and speed can increase, whereas inter-stride variability and occurrence of freezing decrease when patients are ‘paced’ by a metronome. Isochronous auditory cues may alter the typical fractal dynamics of healthy gait, and persistent long-range correlations in stride intervals of self-paced gait can even switch to anti-persistent correlations. This qualitative change of gait dynamics may be indicative of ‘local’ (i.e. short-term) coupling processes, allowing for cycle-by-cycle entrainment of motor events with the metronome though this is still speculative. Yet, the literature remains inconclusive about the effect of (isochronous) cueing on gait dynamics. We here discuss whether a train of auditory cues with more fractal-like correlation structure can yield a more consistent and predictable adaptation of motor performance. These ideas are particularly interesting in the context of the recently proposed ‘strong anticipation’ that enables subjects to synchronize with a metronome even if the sequence is largely random. The present experimental findings may form a first step towards a better understanding of effects of (correlations in) auditory cueing on gait, which can open new opportunities for optimizing cueing protocols in the presence of neurodegenerative pathologies.
Acknowledgements
Large part of the presentation capitalize on the fruitful discussions with Vivien Marmelat, Kjerstin Torre, and Peter Beek.
References
Boonstra, TW, He Biyu J, Daffertshofer A. Scale-free dynamics and critical phenomena in cortical activity, Frontiers Physiol 4 (79), doi:10.3389/fphys.2013.00079, 2013
Lim I, van Wegen E, de Goede C, Deutekom M, Nieuwboer A, Willems A, Jones D, Rochester L, Kwakkel G. Effects of external rhythmical cueing on gait in patients with Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review. Clin Rehabil 19 (7): 695–713, 2005.
Marmelat V, Delignières D. Strong anticipation: complexity matching in interpersonal coordination. Exp Brain Res 222: 137-148, 2012.
Marmelat V, Torre K, Beek PJ, Daffertshofer A. Preserving healthy gait dynamics under fractal rhythmic auditory stimulation, submitted, 2013.
Stephen DG, Stepp N, Dixon J, Turvey MT. Strong anticipation: sensitivity to long-range correlations in synchronization behavior. Physica A 387: 5271–5278, 2008.
Keywords:
fractal analysis,
Cueing,
anticipation timing,
Walking,
Locomotor training
Conference:
14th Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop Birmingham 11th - 13th September 2013, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 11 Sep - 13 Sep, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Rhythm Production and Perception
Citation:
Daffertshofer
A
(2013). Long-range correlations in temporal sequences – designing auditory cues for locomotion.
Conference Abstract:
14th Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop Birmingham 11th - 13th September 2013.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.214.00005
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Received:
02 Sep 2013;
Published Online:
24 Sep 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Andreas Daffertshofer, VU University Amsterdam, Human Movement Science, Amsterdam, 1081BT, Netherlands, a.daffertshofer@vu.nl