Walking and seeing - about the interaction of walking and visual in-formation processing

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Edmund Wascher
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology ; Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517689457

Mobile technology, such as mobile phones or data glasses, requires more and more cogni-tive/attentional resources to process digitally-enriched visual information while walking. The division of such resources between concurrent locomotion and information acquisition bears the risk of having a negative impact on both tasks. More specifically, it can be assumed that visual information intake influences gait, but also that challenges to gait control can lead to impaired visual perception. Wearable technologies that convey information during walking can therefore only be used safely if the influencing variables and limits of this mutual dependency are known. The aim of this project is to systematically investigate the interactions between the demands of visual information processing and gait on the level of basic research. Therefore, the dyad of concurrent walking and seeing needs to be investaigaed holistically in settings that systematically build on each other with increasing ecological validity – or closeness to reality. With the help of modern measurement methods (mobile EEG, mobile eye tracking, motion capturing) as well as examination environments that enable the systematic display of virtual environments (in an interactive gait laboratory, "Gait Realtime InterActive Lab", GRAIL), causes and effects of occurring interferences will be investigated.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Gerhard Rinkenauer