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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Using Eye-tracking to Assess the Relative Importance of Visual and Vestibular Input to Subcortical Motion Processing in the Roll Plane
Published on: August 22, 2025
Are older adults more dependent on visual information in regulating self-motion than younger adults?
P G Anderson1, B Nienhuis, T Mulder
1Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information University of Nijmegen Sint Maartenskliniek-Research.
Abstract:
Older adults look at the ground more while they are walking than younger adults do. In the present study, the effect of blocking that exproprioceptive visual information on the walking pattern of older adults was investigated. The first 0.75 m of the floor in front of healthy young 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 occluded. The dependent variables were step velocity, step length, and step frequency. The effect of the manipulation on those kinematic variables increased with age. The older adults had a significant increase in velocity and step length. The possible use of optic flow information from the ground to regulate the velocity of self-motion is discussed.
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