Exploring Electrocortical Signatures of Gait Adaptation: Differential Neural Dynamics in Slow and Fast Gait Adapters

Individuals exhibit significant variability in their ability to adapt locomotor skills, with some adapting quickly and others more slowly. Differences in brain activity likely contribute to this variability, but direct neural evidence is lacking. We investigated individual differences in electrocortical activity that led to faster locomotor adaptation rates. We recorded high-density electroencephalography while young, neurotypical adults adapted their walking on a split-belt treadmill and grouped them based on how quickly they restored their gait symmetry. Results revealed unique spectral signatures within the posterior parietal, bilateral sensorimotor, and right visual cortices that differ between fast and slow adapters. Specifically, fast adapters exhibited lower alpha power in the posterior parietal and right visual cortices during early adaptation, associated with quicker attainment of steady-state step length symmetry. Decreased posterior parietal alpha may reflect enhanced spatial attention, sensory integration, and movement planning to facilitate faster locomotor adaptation. Conversely, slow adapters displayed greater alpha and beta power in the right visual cortex during late adaptation, suggesting potential differences in visuospatial processing. Additionally, fast adapters demonstrated reduced spectral power in the bilateral sensorimotor cortices compared with slow adapters, particularly in the theta band, which may suggest variations in perception of the split-belt perturbation. These findings suggest that alpha and beta oscillations in the posterior parietal and visual cortices and theta oscillations in the sensorimotor cortex are related to the rate of gait adaptation.