ARE OLDER ADULTS MORE DEPENDENT ON VISUAL INFORMATION IN REGULATING SELF-MOTION THAN YOUNGER ADULTS

Older adults look at the ground more while they are walking than young er adults do. In the present study, the effect of blocking that exprop rioceptive visual information on the walking pattern of older adults w as investigated. The first 0.75 m of the floor in front of healthy you ng adults (n = 10, mean age = 26.0 years) and 2 groups of older adults (n = 10, mean age 65.7 years; and n = 9, mean age = 75.9 years) was o ccluded. The dependent variables were step velocity, step length, and step frequency. The effect of the manipulation on those kinematic vari ables increased with age. The older adults had a significant increase in velocity and step length. The possible use of optic flow informatio n from the ground to regulate the velocity of self-motion is discussed .