Evaluating psychological determinants of altered balance control in older adults and people with Parkinson’s

Fear of falling can have a profound influence on the way older adults plan and execute balance and gait tasks. This is evident in both feedforward planning (visual search) and online control (making rapid reactive steps). This presentation will focus on findings from laboratory-based experimental manipulations of anxiety and attentional processes. Will will also describe current attempts to translate theories from motor learning in to clinical contents, particularly in older adults with high trait/state anxiety and people with Parkinson’s and freezing of gait.