Postdoctoral Spotlight: Aiden Payne

Aiden Payne is a postdoctoral researcher in Florida State University’s Department of Psychology, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on human balance control across the lifespan and balance disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. After earning his doctorate in biomedical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019, Payne became a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and continued working on collaborative research between Georgia Tech and Emory investigating human balance control and balance impairments, research that he began as a graduate student. Payne came to FSU in 2021 to pursue additional postdoctoral research opportunities.

Tell us a little about your background and where you’re from.

I’m originally from Atlanta. I received my bachelor’s and doctoral degrees, both in biomedical engineering, from Georgia Tech. While earning my bachelor’s, I worked as an undergraduate research assistant from 2011-2013 in a cardiovascular biology lab located at Emory and affiliated with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech.

What brought you to FSU?

Prior to my time at FSU, I investigated a brain response evoked by a disturbance to standing balance and analyzed how this response relates to balance control. In 2016, I reached out to then-FSU psychology professor Greg Hajcak (now the Sheri Sobrato Endowed Chair of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at Santa Clara University) who was investigating a brain response evoked when someone makes a mistake and how that response relates to anxiety. I explained why I thought we were studying the same phenomenon and how we might be able to work together to overcome barriers to progress in both of our fields. We’ve been collaborating ever since.

In 2021, I joined the former FSU Risk for Anxiety and Depression Lab, led by Hajcak during his time here, to measure both of these brain responses in anxious children, which demonstrated how the approaches we use could be combined to explain relationships between anxiety and balance control. I wanted to learn more about cognitive and emotional control and to better my understanding of how this control could factor into balance problems. After working with Hajcak, I continued this research in the Anxiety and Behavioral Health Clinic led by the psychology department chair Brad Schmidt.

Can you break down your areas of research for us?

My main focus is on human balance control and balance disorders. When you start to lose your balance, your brainstem involuntarily activates your muscles in a manner that’s directly driven by sensory activity. This level of control normally does most of the work to maintain your balance automatically, only requiring your attention in response to unusually large disturbances like someone bumping into you. However, when this level of control breaks down due to aging or disease, people start to compensate by becoming cognitively and emotionally engaged in the control of balance and walking. In contrast to the relatively straightforward automatic control, which can be explained by mechanical models, the addition of cognitive and emotional control makes it more difficult to study and understand impaired balance control.

Tell us about the interdisciplinary elements of your research.

My research combines experimental and computational approaches from neuroscience, mechanics and more recently from psychology. These approaches allow me to study the neural control of standing balance — the process in which the brain receives and responds to information to prevent falling.

What does a typical day of research look like?

When I’m collecting data, I use noninvasive electrodes to read brain and muscle activity in anxious children while they perform simple balance and cognitive tasks. Most of my days are spent reading literature, analyzing data, writing manuscripts and proposals, working on presentations, meeting with collaborators and mentoring undergraduate students.

What do you want the public to know about the importance of your research?

Balance control is generally taken for granted because it’s so automatic, but every movement you make –– even reaching for a cup of coffee –– has to be properly counteracted to prevent a loss of balance. We tend to not recognize balance problems until someone starts falling, but people can spend years using cognitive control to compensate for balance problems. They may only start falling when that compensatory control fails, too. At that point, restoring balance control is challenging. Developing methods to identify and respond to earlier stages of balance problems could dramatically extend people’s mobility and independence in old age.

Tell us what makes your research particularly relevant to this time.

Right now, we’re experiencing an unprecedented expansion of the population over age 65, both due to advances in health care that have extended the average lifespan and due to the baby boom that occurred about 70 years ago. The aging population’s need for care is rapidly outpacing the capacity of our health-care systems, and there’s a dire need for interventions that can improve the quality of life in old age and reduce need for care.

What are some upcoming goals or projects you’re working toward?

I recently accepted an assistant professor position at Ohio University where I’ll create a laboratory in collaboration with the Department of Physical Therapy and the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute. My lab will aim to develop better methods to detect earlier stages of balance problems and to ultimately design balance rehabilitation interventions to restore automatic control of balance. Ideally, these interventions will not only improve balance control but will also reduce the need for cognitive and emotional engagement in balance and walking. This will free up attention for participation in more fulfilling aspects of daily life.

What advice would you offer to undergraduate students, graduate students and fellow postdoctoral researchers?

If you’re interested in research, find an area that interests you and get involved! Whatever area you get into, try to keep in mind the eventual societal impact rather than the particular methods used to approach it. Sometimes, solving a big problem requires branching out into other methods or fields. Having the flexibility to reach out to new collaborators and try a new approach can go a long way.