Influence of constrained visual and somatic senses on controlling centre of mass during sit-to-stand

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the manner in which healthy individuals execute robust whole body movements despite unstable body structure from the perspective of perception–action coupling. Twelve healthy adults performed sit-to-stand (STS) movements under conditions of constrained visual and somatic senses. During this movement, centre of mass (COM) of the body in the anterior–posterior, upward–downward and right–left directions was computed. The conditions of perceptual constraint were set as vision-restricted, somatosensory-restricted, vision- and somatosensory-restricted, and normal conditions. To evaluate COM control under these perceptual constraints, the variability in position and velocity of COM were assessed. The variabilities in COM velocity in the anterior–posterior and upward–downward directions decreased around the lift-off period only when both vision and somatic senses were constrained, whereas the variability of the COM position in the right–left direction increased under the somatosensory-restricted condition. Our findings suggested that control of COM velocity was enhanced in the major moving directions (anterior and upward directions) around the lift-off period during STS when both modalities of perception with regard to postural orientation were constrained. These motor regulations with perceptual constraints facilitate better adaptation to changes in body and environmental situations in daily life.