Neural control of locomotion in daily life: Gait variability, stability, and adaptability

Locomotion is one of the most fundamental relevant motor behaviours in humans. Walking in daily life is rarely the steady, cyclical activity often examined in laboratory settings; rather, it requires continuous adjustments to varying terrains, environmental demands, cognitive loads, and concurrent tasks. The neural control of locomotion therefore involves a distributed network spanning spinal central pattern generators, brainstem locomotor regions, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia, and cortical areas, all of which interact dynamically with sensory feedback to produce gait patterns that are simultaneously stable, variable, and adaptable. Gait variability reflects the inherent fluctuations of step-to-step parameters, stability refers to the capacity to resist or recover from perturbations, and adaptability denotes the ability to flexibly modify gait in response to changing internal and external conditions. Disentangling these three constructs and understanding their underlying neural substrates is critical for advancing models of locomotor control and informing clinical assessment and rehabilitation.

This Research Topic aims to consolidate current evidence on the neural mechanisms supporting locomotion with a particular focus on gait variability, stability, and adaptability. We welcome contributions spanning experimental animal studies, translational, and clinical neuroscience, including behavioural, neurophysiological, neuroimaging, computational, and wearable-technology approaches. Studies that examine locomotion across the lifespan, in expert performers, or in clinical populations with neurological or musculoskeletal conditions are particularly encouraged.

We invite original research, reviews, perspectives, and methods articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Cortical, subcortical, cerebellar, and spinal contributions to locomotor control

• Neural correlates of gait variability, dynamic stability, and adaptability

• Cognitive–motor interactions and dual-task locomotion

• Locomotor adaptation, learning, and transfer across contexts

• Development and ageing of gait control

• Mobile brain–body imaging and ambulatory neurophysiology

• Biophysical or data-driven computational models of locomotor control, including optimal control and active inference frameworks

• Wearable sensors, exoskeletons, and assistive technologies for assessing and supporting gait

• Rehabilitation strategies targeting variability, stability, or adaptability of gait

• Differences in variability, stability, and adaptability in the lab versus the real world.

• Relative contributions of neural control and biomechanics to variability, stability, and adaptability of locomotion

• Experimental animal studies of locomotion and adaptation, including circuit-level mechanisms, sensory feedback, and neuromechanical integration

• Comparative approaches linking animal and human locomotion

Please, note that studies on animal research should be submitted via Frontiers in Neural Circuits.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Gait variability Dynamic stability Locomotor adaptability Neural control of locomotion Sensorimotor integration Mobile brain-body imaging Wearable sensors Dual-task walking Gait rehabilitation Postural control

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.