Eye movements may help people anticipate contact and remain stable | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

Purpose

This study will explore how specific eye movements contribute to the ways a person anticipates and compensates with their posture when they are stabilizing their body. Researchers want to understand how the brain processes motion to stabilize posture.

The researchers are using a KINARM robot with eye-tracking in an augmented-reality environment to study people's eye movements and physical responses through their hands.

Impact

As people age, their ability to react and balance decreases, this is also true for people with neurological disorders. Eventually, this work could lead to treatments that prevent falls and poor posture for aging and neuro-compromised adults.

Someday, this work could help older adults and other people at risk of falling use eye-movement training to improve their stability .

Tarkeshwar Singh

Key Findings

Initial results suggest that slow eye movements contribute to a person's ability to adjust their posture in anticipation of contact with something like catching a ball.

Investigators

Principal investigator: Tarkeshwar Singh,

Graduate students: Taylor Rosenquist, Oindrila Sinha

Collaborators

These studies are being done in collaboration with researchers from the New York Institute of Technology, University of Verona (Italy), and University of Lille (France).

Next Steps

The current project will continue until 2026. Singh is currently applying for federal funding.

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