Angle of gaze and optic flow direction modulate body sway

Abstract

Optic flow is a crucial signal in maintaining postural stability. We sought to investigate whether the activity of postural muscles and body sway was modulated by eye position during the view of radial optic flow stimuli. We manipulated the spatial distribution of dot speed and the fixation point position to simulate specific heading directions combined with different gaze positions. The experiments were performed using stabilometry and surface electromyography (EMG) on 24 right-handed young, healthy volunteers. Center of pressure (COP) signals were analyzed considering antero-posterior and medio-lateral oscillation, COP speed, COP area, and the prevalent direction of oscillation of body sway. We found a significant main effect of body side in all COP parameters, with the right body side showing greater oscillations. The different combinations of optic flow and eye position evoked a non-uniform direction of oscillations in females. The EMG analysis showed a significant main effect for muscle and body side. The results showed that the eye position modulated body sway without changing the activity of principal leg postural muscles, suggesting that the extraretinal input regarding the eye position is a crucial signal that needs to be integrated with perceptual optic flow processing in order to control body sway.

Keywords: Electromyography; Eye position; Gender differences; Postural control; Visual system.