Name:Mikayla Samuel

School/Affiliation:University of Toronto

Co-Authors:Dr. Mark Schmuckler

Virtual or In-person:In-person

Abstract:

Research has demonstrated that there are neurological mechanisms linking auditory and motor movement; this connection has been termed auditory-motor entrainment. Researchers have extensively analyzed the impact of auditory input on adult clinical and non-clinical populations, revealing that rhythmic auditory input can influence one’s cadence. Developmentally, the investigation of auditory-motor entrainment has been sparsely examined in young newly walking children. Recent work by Schmuckler & Paolozza (2023), however, has found that 14- to 24-month-old infants will show modulation in their gait when presented with a single auditory input that was faster than their natural walking cadence. The current study expands on this finding, investigating gait modifications in response to finer gradations of change in rhythmic auditory input in walkers of 3-, 4- and 5 years. In this work, participants walked across a pressure sensitive gait mat, while listening to metronome clicks created at 75%, 87.5%, 100%, 112.5%, and 125%, of baseline walking cadence. No specific instructions were given to participants as to whether or not to match walking to the auditory information. Findings revealed that 4- and 5-year-olds showed consistent changes in spatiotemporal variables (e.g., walking cadence, gait velocity) as a function of metronome speed, demonstrating sensitivity to the fine gradations of change in auditory input. In contrast, 3-year-olds showed some, albeit less consistent, modulation of spatiotemporal variables in response to auditory information. These findings highlight the developmental progression of perceptual-motor integration during locomotion, while also highlighting the sophistication of auditory-motor entrainment as a multi-sensory process.