2002; The Contribution of Central and Peripheral Vision to the Postural Sway Response Elicited by Moving Visual Environments in Healthy Children Aged 8-12

Abstract #491, Date Tuesday, Jan 29 2002 1:00PM - 12:00PM Session M Vestibular
The Contribution of Central and Peripheral Vision to the Postural Sway Response Elicited by Moving Visual Environments in Healthy Children Aged 8-12
Patrick J. Sparto, Kathryn E. Brown, Mark S. Redfern, Joseph M. Furman, Margaretha L. Casselbrant
The development of sensory integration for balance has not been examined in great detail. Central and peripheral vision may perform different roles in the visual control of posture. The goal of this study was to assess how central and peripheral vision contribute to the visual control of balance in children aged 8-12. Ten healthy subjects (5 female, 5 male, ages 8-12) participated in the experiment. A visual stimulus of an infinitely long tunnel was displayed in the BNAVE, a virtual reality facility that displays a contiguous image across 3 back-projected screens that encompass approximately 75&[deg] vertical and 180&[deg] horizontal field of view (FOV). The walls of the tunnel had a texture of alternating black and white squares. Subjects stood barefoot on a force platform for 80 seconds while viewing sinusoidal movements of the virtual tunnel. Sixty seconds of movement were preceded and followed by 10 seconds of quiet standing. Scene movement occurred forward and back along the long axis of the tunnel at frequencies of 0.1 or 0.25 Hz. The FOV of the subjects was altered by software controls to consist of 1) full FOV, 2) central 30&[deg] FOV, or 3) peripheral 30&[deg] FOV (i.e. blocking out the central 30&[deg]). The RMS center of pressure during the tunnel movement was computed from the force platform data. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to test for the effects of movement frequency and FOV condition. The amount of sway was significantly affected by the FOV: full FOV and peripheral FOV elicited sway that exceeded the sway elicited by central FOV conditions. This effect did not depend on frequency of the scene movement. We conclude that peripheral vision plays an integral role in the control of posture in children aged 8-12. Support provided by The Eye and Ear Foundation and NIH/DC02490 and DC05205.