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Intersegmental body coordination during obstacle avoidance in a virtual environment

Postural coordination is essential for implementing efficient obstacle circumvention strategies during locomotion. While virtual environments (VEs) are increasingly used to replicate real-life conditions and safely assess or train patients on complex locomotor tasks, the extent to which coordination...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neurophysiologie clinique 2019-12, Vol.49 (6), p.458-458
Main Authors: Bühler, Marco Antônio, Lamontagne, Anouk
Format: Article
Language:eng ; fre
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Summary:Postural coordination is essential for implementing efficient obstacle circumvention strategies during locomotion. While virtual environments (VEs) are increasingly used to replicate real-life conditions and safely assess or train patients on complex locomotor tasks, the extent to which coordination strategies in VEs differ from that observed in the physical environment (PE) remains to be elucidated. The objective was to estimate the extent to which coordination strategies in the VE differ from the PE. Healthy young participants (n=10) were assessed while walking towards a target and avoiding pedestrians approaching from different directions (left, centre, right) in a VE vs. PE. The VE, identical in size and appearance to the PE, was viewed using a HTC VIVE head-mounted display (HMD). Centre of mass trajectory (CoMt), as well as head, thorax and pelvis yaw, were measured using a Vicon system. In both environments, participants reoriented their body segments towards their heading direction during obstacle circumvention. In the PE, the reorientation sequence started with the head (2.94±0.04m from obstacle), followed by the trunk (2.74±0.03m), pelvis (2.71±0.04m) and CoMt (2.64±0.04). In the VE, reorientation started with the pelvis (2.97±0.03m) and trunk (2.95±0.03m), followed by the head (2.79±0.04m) and CoMt (2.77±0.04m). Smaller maximum head reorientation (Δ=1.72±0.67; P
ISSN:0987-7053
1769-7131
DOI:10.1016/j.neucli.2019.10.139