The direction of postural threat alters balance control when standing at virtual elevation
Raffegeau, TE; Fawver, B; Young, WR; et al.Williams, AM; Lohse, KR; Fino, PC
Date: 17 September 2020
Article
Journal
Experimental Brain Research
Publisher
Springer
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Anxiogenic settings lead to reduced postural sway while standing, but anxiety-related balance may be
influenced by the location of postural threat in the environment. We predicted that the direction of threat
would elicit a parallel controlled manifold relative to the standing surface, and an orthogonal
uncontrolled manifold during ...
Anxiogenic settings lead to reduced postural sway while standing, but anxiety-related balance may be
influenced by the location of postural threat in the environment. We predicted that the direction of threat
would elicit a parallel controlled manifold relative to the standing surface, and an orthogonal
uncontrolled manifold during standing. Altogether, 14 healthy participants (8 women, mean age = 27.5
yrs, SD = 8.2) wore a virtual reality (VR) headset and stood on a matched real-world walkway (2m x
40cm x 2cm) for 30s at ground level and simulated heights (elevated 15m) in two positions: (1) parallel
to walkway, lateral threat; and (2) perpendicular to walkway, anteroposterior threat. Inertial sensors
measured postural sway acceleration (e.g., 95% ellipse, root mean square (RMS) of acceleration), and a
wrist-worn monitor measured heart rate coefficient of variation (HR CV). Fully factorial linear-mixed
effect regressions (LMER) determined the effects of height and position. HR CV moderately increased
from low to high height (p = 0.050, g = 0.397). The Height x Position interaction approached
significance for sway area (95% ellipse; ß = -0.018, p = 0.062) and was significant for RMS (ß = -0.022,
p = 0.007). Post-hoc analyses revealed that frontal plane sway accelerations and RMS increased from
low to high elevation in parallel standing, but decreased when facing the threat during perpendicular
standing. Postural response to threat varies depending on the direction of threat, suggesting that the
control strategies used during standing are sensitive to the direction of threat.
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