The influence of vision on the automatic postural muscle responses of newly standing and newly walking infants

In adults, visual inputs do not appear to contribute significantly to automatic postural muscle responses (90-100 ms latency) activated by transient support surface displacements causing threats to standing balance, but are activated through slow pathways with latencies of more than 200 ms. However,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental brain research 1998-06, Vol.120 (4), p.537-540
Main Authors: SUNDERMIER, L, WOOLLACOTT, M. H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Cues
Electromyography
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gait - physiology
Humans
Infant
Infants
Motor control and motor pathways. Reflexes. Control centers of vegetative functions. Vestibular system and equilibration
Muscle, Skeletal - innervation
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Peripheral Nervous System - growth & development
Peripheral Nervous System - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Posture - physiology
Proprioception - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reflex - physiology
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Walking
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Summary:In adults, visual inputs do not appear to contribute significantly to automatic postural muscle responses (90-100 ms latency) activated by transient support surface displacements causing threats to standing balance, but are activated through slow pathways with latencies of more than 200 ms. However, it has been shown that the postural sway behavior of early walking infants is strongly influenced by visual flow cues that falsely signal self-movement. To determine whether there also are significant contributions of vision to automatic postural muscle responses in this age group, two groups of infants were tested on a moveable platform; pre-walkers (n=6) and early walkers (n=6). Pre-walkers did not show any measurable effect of visual condition (vision vs no vision) on muscle response characteristics. However, the integrated gastrocnemius activity of early walkers increased significantly in vision versus no vision conditions (P
ISSN:0014-4819
1432-1106
DOI:10.1007/s002210050429