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Visual-vestibular influences on locomotor adjustments for stepping over an obstacle

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Abstract

Combined visual and vestibular influences on locomotor control, particularly in changing environments, are little understood. We studied such influences on body orientation and foot trajectory control during level walking and obstacle avoidance. Six young adults walked on the level and over an obstacle while vision was present or occluded as well as while vestibular information was intact or perturbed using galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS). The occlusion of vision caused a slowing of gait during obstacle avoidance as well as increased clearance of the leading limb over the obstruction. GVS caused lateral deviations in head and trunk roll angles as well as in foot and trunk displacements, but these lateral deviations were the same during both level walking and obstacle avoidance. In addition, GVS had no effect at all on sagittal plane factors such as speed, foot proximity to the obstacle and vertical clearance over the obstacle. Overall, there is a complex visual control of bilateral obstacle avoidance, but the lack of differences in GVS effects between level and obstructed walking shows that vestibular information is not upregulated for obstacle avoidance. In addition, the robust indifference of anterior foot placement and body displacement to significant lateral deviations from GVS suggests an orthogonally based sensori-locomotor control.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Guy St-Vincent, Francois Comeau, Amélie Desjardins and Daniel Tardif for their technical assistance. Financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation, Laval University, Quebec, Qc, Canada

    Bradford J. McFadyen & Laurent Bouyer

  2. Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration, Quebec Rehabilitation Institute, Quebec, Qc, Canada, G1M 2S8

    Bradford J. McFadyen & Laurent Bouyer

  3. Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Leah R. Bent

  4. School of Human Kinetics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    J. Timothy Inglis

  5. International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), Vancouver, BC, Canada

    J. Timothy Inglis

Authors
  1. Bradford J. McFadyen
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  2. Laurent Bouyer
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  3. Leah R. Bent
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  4. J. Timothy Inglis
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Correspondence to Bradford J. McFadyen.

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McFadyen, B.J., Bouyer, L., Bent, L.R. et al. Visual-vestibular influences on locomotor adjustments for stepping over an obstacle. Exp Brain Res 179, 235–243 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0784-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0784-0

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