AbstractsMedical & Health Science

This thesis aimed to investigate a novel way to explore changes in gaze behaviour, whilst walking, in frail populations. Initially three studies were conducted to establish how similar gaze behaviour recorded during walking was to that recorded whilst scene viewing. Duration of time and number of times different features were fixated were found to be similar in the three experiments. Older adults were assessed for falling risk and split into higher risk of falling (HROA) and lower risk of falling (LROA) groups. Their gaze behaviour was recorded whilst scene viewing along with a group of young adults. HROA were found to fixate the travel path longer than LROA and younger adults. HROA were slower at completing the incongruent Stroop task, suggesting a relationship between response inhibition and increased falling risk. A group of stroke patients were assessed for falling risk and split according to lesion location (parietal, occipital or frontal-temporal); gaze behaviour was recorded during scene viewing and compared to controls. Observable differences, which related to falling risk and lesion location, were shown in the gaze behaviour of the stroke patients compared to the controls. The findings of this thesis suggest that scene viewing could be used to better inform us about the changes in gaze behaviour which occur in frail populations that led to an increased risk of falling and the cognitive mechanisms which underlie these changes than laboratory studies.