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Postural responses to sinusoidal modulations of viewpoint position in a virtual environment
Jordan J Garner1, Michael D'Zmura2
1Department of Cognitive Sciences, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA. jjgarner@uci.edu.
Experimental Brain Research
|May 4, 2020
Summary
Humans require a minimum visual motion speed to trigger postural responses. This study found a threshold of 1.85 cm/s for visual self-motion cues to influence posture control, especially when stimuli are visible.
Area of Science:
- Human sensorimotor control
- Visual perception
- Virtual reality
Background:
- Visual self-motion information significantly impacts postural control.
- The specific characteristics of visual motion that elicit postural adjustments remain incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the threshold of visual motion speed necessary to evoke a postural response in standing humans.
- To investigate how visual stimulus characteristics influence visuo-postural responses.
Main Methods:
- Utilized signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to measure steady-state visually evoked posture responses (SSVEPRs).
- Employed sinusoidal modulations of viewpoint position within a virtual environment (VE).
- Analyzed posture responses in relation to visual stimulus amplitude and temporal frequency.
Main Results:
- A minimum speed of movement threshold (average 1.85 cm/s) for visual viewpoint modulation is required to generate a posture response.
- Visuo-postural response system sensitivity increases with the temporal frequency of viewpoint modulation.
- Postural responses are less likely to occur for visual stimuli that are not perceived (unseen).
Conclusions:
- Visual self-motion perception has a distinct speed threshold critical for activating postural control mechanisms.
- The effectiveness of visual cues in modulating posture is dependent on both stimulus speed and visibility.
- Motion sickness showed minor correlations with duration in the VE and movement frequency.
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