Seeing, hearing, thinking, moving: Multisensory and cognitive interactions supporting mobility in older adults

The sMAP CREATE program webinar series invites scientists from different disciplines whose commitment and research relate to mobility in aging populations. Join us for the following sMAP CREATE webinar and forward to colleagues who may be interested.

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ABSTRACT:

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As we move through the world, our brain has the extraordinary task of seamlessly integrating information from across our various sensory systems including, vision, audition, our muscles and joints, and the acceleration detectors in our inner ear (vestibular). By optimally integrating these sensory inputs, this allows us to estimate self-movement parameters such as speed, distance, and heading direction with greater precision than any one sensory input alone. My research program is aimed at quantifying how these multiple sensory inputs are integrated in the brain and how this supports behaviours such as walking and driving. Our research exploits the unique benefits of basic perceptual/psychophysical tasks and employs state-of-the-art simulation and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to develop models of multisensory self-motion perception during basic and more realistic behaviours.

In this talk I will present my research on understanding how multiple sensory inputs are integrated in the brain during self-motion, how multisensory integration changes with older age, and how age-related sensory and cognitive declines are associated with an increased risk of falls and vehicle collisions.

I will also describe Toronto Rehab’s Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory (CEAL); a $40 million virtual reality and simulation facility focused on preventing injury and promoting healthy aging. CEAL houses a large 6 degree-of-freedom motion platform, Canada’s most advanced driving simulator, an immersive projection-based VR system, a configurable built-environment laboratory, and an indoor winter simulator.

These simulators allow us to :

• a) carefully recreate real-world conditions, to promote the generalizability of research outcomes to real-world applications
• b) adapt these technologies for training and rehabilitation interventions.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY:

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Dr. Jennifer Campos is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Multisensory Integration and Aging. She is a Senior Scientist, Chief Scientist of the Challenging Environments Assessment Laboratory, and the Associate Director – Academics at KITE, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute – University Health Network. Jenny is also the Associate Scientific Director of AGE-WELL NCE and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology (University of Toronto). Jenny’s research focuses on multisensory self-motion perception and mobility (standing balance, walking, and driving) under realistic and challenging conditions. This includes understanding how age-related sensory loss (e.g., vision, hearing) and cognitive declines can increase the risk of falls and vehicle collisions (e.g., in healthy older adults, those with hearing loss, dementia). She uses VR and simulation technologies to

• a) systematically manipulate aspects of multisensory experiences (sights, sounds, motions) to examine how sensory inputs are integrated in the brain
• b) optimize simulation technologies for use as novel tools for research and application
• c) help bridge the gap between highly-controlled lab studies and