Presenter: Taylor Kay
Mentor: Li-Shan Chou, Human Physiology
Oral Presentation
Major: Human Physiology
It is common to see people using a phone while walking on campus. Our research analyzed gait in walking and crossing an obstacle while performing a visual cognitive test on a smartphone. Ten young healthy adults (5 males and 5 females, age: 21.5±2.07 years) randomly accomplished the following five tasks: 1) Gait only: walking at self- selected speed, 2) Gait + Stroop: walking while answering a Stroop test app (EncephalApp) on an iPod touch, 3) OBS only: walking over an obstacle set at a 10% of the subject’s height, 4) OBS + Stroop: crossing an obstacle while answering a Stroop test app, 5) Stroop only: sitting while answering a Stroop test app. A 10-camera motion capture system (Motion Analysis Corp., Santa Rosa, CA) was used for data collection and Cortex software (Motion Analysis Corp., Santa Rosa, CA) was used for processing the data. Our data suggested that individuals walked slower, swayed more, and raised their legs higher while using a smartphone during walking or obstacle crossing. These altered gait behaviors can lead to higher risks to pedestrian safety.