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Transitions in Visual Proprioception: A Cross-Sectional Developmental Study of the Effect of Visual Flow on Postural
E. C. Foster1, H. Sveistrup, M. H. Woollacott
1Department of Exercise and Movement Science and Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
Insights
Infants as young as 5 months show postural responses to visual disturbances, even before standing. This ability to manage visual-inflicted sway and balance improves with age and experience.
Area of Science:
- Developmental neuroscience
- Motor control
- Human kinetics
Background:
- Postural control relies on integrating sensory information, including visual input.
- The development of balance and the ability to adapt to sensory perturbations are crucial for motor milestones.
- Understanding how visual disturbances affect balance across different age groups provides insight into sensory processing development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental progression of stance control in response to visual perturbations.
- To characterize how infants and children aged 5 months to 10 years manage visual flow simulating sway.
- To examine the kinematic and electromyographic responses to visual perturbations across development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a moving room paradigm to simulate visual flow and induce postural sway.
- Recorded kinematic data, including probability of sway and magnitude of sway response.
- Collected electromyographic data, measuring muscle activation patterns and onset latencies.
Main Results:
- Standing infants aged 5 months exhibited organized postural muscle responses and sway to visual perturbations, preceding independent standing.
- New walkers showed an increased magnitude of response to visual perturbation, suggesting greater reliance on visual information.
- Sway magnitude significantly decreased in older children and adults, indicating improved ability to resolve sensory conflict.
Conclusions:
- Young infants demonstrate rudimentary postural responses to visual stimuli, highlighting early sensory integration.
- The developing ability to modulate responses to visual perturbations reflects maturation in sensory integration and motor control.
- Adults effectively resolve visual-vestibular conflict, demonstrating sophisticated balance control strategies developed through age and experience.
Abstract:
In the present study, a moving room paradigm was used that characterized the developmental progression of the effects of visual perturbations on stance control in subjects (N = 39) from 5 months to 10 years of age. Kinematic (probability of recording sway, magnitude of sway response) and electromyographic (probability and patterns of muscle activation, muscle onset latencies) data were found that suggested that visual flow simulating sway activates organized postural muscle responses and results in subsequent sway in standing infants as young as 5 months of age, well before they are able to stand independently. In new walkers, there was an increase in the magnitude of the effect of the visual perturbation, suggesting a possible increase in reliance on visual information. The magnitude of sway decreased to very low levels in older children and adults. The large-amplitude responses observed in the youngest age groups may indicate an inability to switch from an unreliable to a reliable source of perceptual information or an inability to modulate the responses produced following the perturbations. With increasing age and experience, the ability to resolve the conflict increased, with adult subjects demonstrating little sway response.
