The Impact of Visual Perturbations on Balance Control during Walking

Visual perturbations may lead to an illusory self-motion and affect balance control. We studied effects of different visual perturbations in 16 healthy young participants walking on a treadmill, by assessing foot placement and center of mass (CoM) states. Three different visual perturbations were applied: fixating on a stationary target while the background moved to the right (MB), tracking the target moving rightward over a stationary background with head rotation (MT-HR), and tracking the moving target with eye movement only (MT-EM). Deviations of foot placement, CoM and trunk orientation due to the visual perturbation were assessed. Linear models were fit to the kinematic data to predict foot placement from CoM state at mid-swing. Over the whole trial, MT-HR and MT-EM caused an increase in step width variability, CoM position variability and RMS of foot placement errors simultaneously. During visual perturbation epochs specifically, in MB, a left deviation of foot and CoM trajectories was observed from the start of the background movement. In MT-HR and MT-EM, a right deviation of foot and CoM trajectories was observed only after the target had stopped moving. Contrary to our expectations, foot placement errors did not coincide with subsequent CoM deviations in the opposite direction. An obvious change in frontal plane trunk orientation was found only in MT-HR. While all visual perturbations affected control of the CoM trajectory in the frontal plane, these effects appeared caused by effects on control of heading as well. Head rotation appears to additionally disturb balance through a coupling with trunk orientation. Summary statementVisual perturbations during walking alter foot placement and body motion in humans, revealing how eye and head movements influence walking balance.