Coping with asymmetry: How infants and adults walk with one elongated leg

Whitney G. Cole; Simone V. Gill; Beatrix Vereijken; Karen E. Adolph

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.04.006

Coping with asymmetry: How infants and adults walk with one elongated leg

Whitney G. Cole, Simone V. Gill, Beatrix Vereijken, Karen E. Adolph

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The stability of a system affects how it will handle a perturbation: The system may compensate for the perturbation or not. This study examined how 14-month-old infants-notoriously unstable walkers-and adults cope with a perturbation to walking. We attached a platform to one of participants' shoes, forcing them to walk with one elongated leg. At first, the platform shoe caused both age groups to slow down and limp, and caused infants to misstep and fall. But after a few trials, infants altered their gait to compensate for the platform shoe whereas adults did not; infants recovered symmetrical gait whereas adults continued to limp. Apparently, adult walking was stable enough to cope with the perturbation, but infants risked falling if they did not compensate. Compensation depends on the interplay of multiple factors: The availability of a compensatory response, the cost of compensation, and the stability of the system being perturbed.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	305-314
Number of pages	10
Journal	Infant Behavior and Development
Volume	37
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.04.006
State	Published - Aug 2014

Keywords

Infant walking
Interlimb coordination
Leg length discrepancy
Motor development
Stability
Uneven leg lengths

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology

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10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.04.006

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title = "Coping with asymmetry: How infants and adults walk with one elongated leg",

abstract = "The stability of a system affects how it will handle a perturbation: The system may compensate for the perturbation or not. This study examined how 14-month-old infants-notoriously unstable walkers-and adults cope with a perturbation to walking. We attached a platform to one of participants' shoes, forcing them to walk with one elongated leg. At first, the platform shoe caused both age groups to slow down and limp, and caused infants to misstep and fall. But after a few trials, infants altered their gait to compensate for the platform shoe whereas adults did not; infants recovered symmetrical gait whereas adults continued to limp. Apparently, adult walking was stable enough to cope with the perturbation, but infants risked falling if they did not compensate. Compensation depends on the interplay of multiple factors: The availability of a compensatory response, the cost of compensation, and the stability of the system being perturbed.",

keywords = "Infant walking, Interlimb coordination, Leg length discrepancy, Motor development, Stability, Uneven leg lengths",

author = "Cole, {Whitney G.} and Gill, {Simone V.} and Beatrix Vereijken and Adolph, {Karen E.}",

note = "Funding Information: The project was supported by Award Number R37-HD033486 to Karen Adolph and a minority supplement to Simone Gill from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. We thank Scott Robinson, Paul Glimcher, Mike Landy, and Rachel Keen for helpful comments and Gladys Chan for her help with figures. We acknowledge Garry Faradjian and Jackie Anderson who collected preliminary data for this study for their senior honors theses at NYU.",

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N2 - The stability of a system affects how it will handle a perturbation: The system may compensate for the perturbation or not. This study examined how 14-month-old infants-notoriously unstable walkers-and adults cope with a perturbation to walking. We attached a platform to one of participants' shoes, forcing them to walk with one elongated leg. At first, the platform shoe caused both age groups to slow down and limp, and caused infants to misstep and fall. But after a few trials, infants altered their gait to compensate for the platform shoe whereas adults did not; infants recovered symmetrical gait whereas adults continued to limp. Apparently, adult walking was stable enough to cope with the perturbation, but infants risked falling if they did not compensate. Compensation depends on the interplay of multiple factors: The availability of a compensatory response, the cost of compensation, and the stability of the system being perturbed.

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Coping with asymmetry: How infants and adults walk with one elongated leg

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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