External Focus Strategy on Visuomotor Control in Older Adults

Investigating Visual Search Strategies and the Role of Attentional Focus During Psychomotor Gait Re-education in Older Adults at Risk of Falling: Implication for Fall Rehabilitation

Only a few studies have adopted external focus strategy as an intervention to mitigate the negative effects of heightened conscious movement processing in older adults. The goal was to investigate whether a single-session intervention (SSI) using external focus strategy could improve gait stability and visual search behaviors during adaptive locomotion among the older population.

Participants were randomly allocated to either an external focus (EXT) or a control group (CON). All participants performed an obstacle circumvention walking task along an 8-m walkway for five trials at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention (T1), and retention (T2). The training phase included 20 walking trials. EXT focused on digits displayed on monitors at their path destinations, while CON walked naturally without any manipulation.

Inclusion Criteria:

• aged 65 or above
• were able to walk independently indoors without walking aids

Exclusion Criteria:

• a total score of less than 24 on the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination
• a static visual acuity poorer than 20/40 vision
• the presence of any untreated cerebral vascular disease, Parkinson's disease, or any other major neurological deficit