Evidence map›Paper›PMID 20147417›Full record

Trial reportJournal of neurophysiology2010

Thinking about walking: effects of conscious correction versus distraction on locomotor adaptation.

Laura A Malone, Amy J Bastian

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of neurophysiology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 171 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
171citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
7.1field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

171 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 316 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Attentional Focus Strategies to Improve Motor Performance in Older Adults: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Acute pain impairs retention of locomotor learning.Journal of neurophysiology · 2024
    Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Practice Structure and Locomotor Learning After Stroke.Journal of neurologic physical therapy : JNPT · 2019
    Trial
  10. Trial
  11. Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Trial
  14. Article
  15. Effect of external versus internal focus of attention instructions on gait performance in people with multiple sclerosis.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review

111 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Laura A MaloneDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
Amy J Bastian
Johns Hopkins University · USKennedy Krieger Institute · US

Funding

Human Locomotor Plasticity in Health and DiseaseR01HD048741 · NICHD · HUGO W. MOSER RES INST KENNEDY KRIEGER · PI BASTIAN, AMY J. · 2006 to 2014
$2.6M
NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD-048741NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD048741
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Control of the human walking pattern normally requires little thought, with conscious control used only in the face of a challenging environment or a perturbation. We have previously shown that people can adapt spatial and temporal aspects of walking to a sustained perturbation generated by a split-belt treadmill. Here we tested whether conscious correction of walking, versus distraction from it, modifies adaptation. Conscious correction of stepping may expedite the adaptive process and help to form a new walking pattern. However, because walking is normally an automatic process, it is possible that conscious effort could interfere with adaptation, whereas distraction might improve it by removing competing voluntary control. Three groups of subjects were studied: a control group was given no specific instructions, a conscious correction group was instructed how to step and given intermittent visual feedback of stepping during adaptation, and a distraction group performed a dual-task during adaptation. After adaptation, retention of aftereffects was assessed in all groups during normal treadmill walking without conscious effort, feedback, or distraction. We found that conscious correction speeds adaptation, whereas distraction slows it. Subjects trained with distraction retained aftereffects longest, suggesting that the training used during adaptation predicts the time course of deadaptation. An unexpected finding was that these manipulations affected the adaptation rate of spatial but not temporal elements of walking. Thus conscious processes can preferentially access the spatial walking pattern. It may be that spatial and temporal controls of locomotion are accessible through distinct neural circuits, with the former being most sensitive to conscious effort or distraction.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PhysiologicalAdultCognitionFeedback, PhysiologicalFemaleHumansLocomotionMalePsychomotor PerformanceSpace PerceptionThinkingWalking

Identifiers

PMID20147417
PMCPMC2853281
OpenAlexW2082333313

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.