Rika Sugimoto-Dimitrova

Abstract Approximately 50% of survivors of stroke experience lasting balance impairments that persist and that are often managed through compensatory, but suboptimal, strategies. Identifying neuromechanical control changes after stroke could enable more targeted and effective rehabilitation strategies. Computational modeling has begun to uncover balance control strategies in unimpaired adults, but efforts have been limited post-stroke.

Abstract Aging can cause the decline of balance ability, which can lead to increased falls and decreased mobility. This work aimed to discern differences in balance control strategies between healthy older and younger adults. Foot force data of 38 older and 65 younger participants (older and younger than 60 years, respectively) were analyzed.

Abstract The motor neuroscience literature suggests that the central nervous system may encode some motor commands in terms of velocity. In this work, we tackle the question: what consequences would velocity commands produce at the behavioral level? Considering the ubiquitous presence of noise in the neuromusculoskeletal system, we predict that velocity commands affected by stationary noise would produce “random walks”, also known as Brownian processes, in position.