Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Using Eye-tracking to Assess the Relative Importance of Visual and Vestibular Input to Subcortical Motion Processing in the Roll Plane
Published on: August 22, 2025
Voluntary and involuntary postural responses to imposed optic flow
Thomas A Stoffregen1, Philip Hove, Jennifer Schmit
1School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Abstract:
We demonstrated that postural responses to imposed optic flow are to some extent voluntary. In a moving room, participants either stood normally or were instructed to resist any influence of visible motion on their stance. When participants attempted to resist, coupling of body sway with motion of the room was significantly greater than when the eyes were closed, but was significantly reduced relative to coupling in the normal stance condition. The results indicate that the use of imposed optic flow for postural control is not entirely automatic or involuntary. This conclusion motivates a search for non-perceptual factors that may influence the degree to which body sway is coupled to imposed optic flow.
Related Concept Videos
Equilibrium and Balance
The Vestibular System
Indirect Motor Pathways
The vestibulospinal tract originates in the vestibular nuclei of the brainstem. The vestibular system detects changes in...
Accessory Structures of the Eye
Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

