Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, box 1501, 3001, Leuven, Belgium.
Department of Human Movement Sciences, MOVE Research Institute Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Brain Struct Funct. 2018 May;223(4):2039-2053. doi: 10.1007/s00429-017-1586-9. Epub 2018 Jan 24.
Humans can navigate through challenging environments (e.g., cluttered or uneven terrains) by modifying their preferred gait pattern (e.g., step length, step width, or speed). Growing behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggests that the ability to modify preferred step patterns requires the recruitment of cognitive resources. In children, it is argued that prolonged development of complex gait is related to the ongoing development of involved brain regions, but this has not been directly investigated yet. Here, we aimed to elucidate the relationship between structural brain properties and complex gait in youth aged 9-18 years. We used volumetric analyses of cortical grey matter (GM) and whole-brain voxelwise statistical analyses of white matter (WM), and utilized a treadmill-based precision stepping task to investigate complex gait. Moreover, precision stepping was performed on step targets which were either unperturbed or perturbed (i.e., unexpectedly shifting to a new location). Our main findings revealed that larger unperturbed precision step error was associated with decreased WM microstructural organization of tracts that are particularly associated with attentional and visual processing functions. These results strengthen the hypothesis that precision stepping on unperturbed step targets is driven by cortical processes. In contrast, no significant correlations were found between perturbed precision stepping and cortical structures, indicating that other (neural) mechanisms may be more important for this type of stepping.
人类可以通过改变他们喜欢的步态模式（例如，步长、步宽或速度）来在具有挑战性的环境中（例如，杂乱或不平坦的地形）导航。越来越多的行为和神经影像学证据表明，改变首选步幅模式的能力需要利用认知资源。在儿童中，有人认为复杂步态的长期发展与相关脑区的持续发展有关，但这尚未得到直接研究。在这里，我们旨在阐明 9-18 岁青少年的大脑结构特性与复杂步态之间的关系。我们使用皮质灰质（GM）的容积分析和大脑白质（WM）的全脑体素统计分析，并利用跑步机上的精确踏步任务来研究复杂步态。此外，在未受干扰或受干扰（即，意外移动到新位置）的步目标上进行精确踏步。我们的主要发现表明，较大的未受干扰的精确踏步误差与与注意力和视觉处理功能特别相关的束的 WM 微观结构组织减少有关。这些结果进一步支持了这样一种假设，即不受干扰的步目标的精确踏步是由皮质过程驱动的。相比之下，在受干扰的精确踏步与皮质结构之间没有发现显著相关性，这表明其他（神经）机制可能对这种类型的踏步更为重要。
