Visual Biofeedback and Postural Control: Exploring Potential Implicit Visual Integration

Real-time visual biofeedback (vBF) of body sway is known to enhance postural control by reducing center of pressure (COP) displacement. However, the mechanisms underlying its influence remain unclear, particularly regarding implicit processing. The objective of this study was to examine whether vBF is utilized implicitly by exposing 40 young adults to both real-time (accurate) and erroneous (delayed) COP feedback without explicitly explaining its purpose. Participants were simply instructed to stand as still as possible. After the experiment, 15 out of 40 participants spontaneously recognized the feedback's nature. Results indicated that both aware and unaware participants exhibited improved postural control under accurate vBF (i.e., reduced COP variability, smaller COP area, increased COP irregularity, and greater reliance on higher sway frequencies). In contrast, erroneous vBF induced minimal changes. While these findings highlight a possible implicit integration of the visual feedback, the results also underscore the need for future research to investigate this phenomenon with more refined methods, as classifying participants into aware and unaware groups presents certain challenges.