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Related Experiment Videos

Human stance control beyond steady state response and inverted pendulum simplification.

G Schweigart1, T Mergner

  • 1Neurocenter, Breisacher Str. 64, 79106 Freiburg, Germany. georg.schweigart@uniklinik-freiburg.de

Experimental Brain Research
|November 22, 2007
PubMed
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Human upright stance relies on continuous multi-sensory feedback control, with new findings revealing nonlinear mechanisms like sensory reweighting switches and saturation limits. These insights refine models of balance control and have been applied to humanoid robots.

Area of Science:

  • Human motor control
  • Systems theory
  • Biomechanics
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Previous systems theory analyses modeled human upright stance using continuous multi-sensory feedback control, primarily focusing on steady-state responses and employing a simplified inverted pendulum model.
  • These simplified models may have overlooked crucial aspects of postural behavior, necessitating further investigation into more complex stimulus conditions and body mechanics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To validate a previously derived stance control model by presenting subjects with static-dynamic stimulus combinations and analyzing response transients, asymmetries, and deviations from the inverted pendulum simplification.
  • To investigate postural control mechanisms in normal subjects and vestibular loss patients under challenging sensory conditions.

Main Methods:

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  • Subjects (normal and vestibular loss patients) maintained upright stance with eyes closed on a motion platform subjected to anterior-posterior support surface tilts (combined static and dynamic stimuli).
  • Measurements included upper and lower body excursions, center of pressure (COP) shift, and center of mass (COM) angular excursion.
  • Perceived platform tilt was also recorded using pointers.

Main Results:

  • Anticipatory forward lean observed prior to stimulus onset.
  • Transient response showed a two-part braking mechanism with saturation and anterior-posterior (a-p) asymmetry, alongside tonic body excursions that saturated with increasing static tilt amplitude.
  • Tilt compensation primarily involved ankle joints, with synergistic hip and knee bending; responses of vestibular loss patients showed larger excursions and less asymmetry.

Conclusions:

  • Identified two novel, highly nonlinear mechanisms in human stance control: a 'sensory reweighting switch' during transient responses and a saturation mechanism for tonic excursions, both contributing to balance.
  • The extended stance control model, incorporating these nonlinearities and asymmetric thresholds, accurately mimics experimental findings in both normal subjects and patients, validating the inverted pendulum simplification.
  • The model's utility was demonstrated through implementation in a humanoid robot, closely replicating human experimental data, and a hypothetical framework for sensory reweighting mechanisms was proposed for future research.