A Technique for Measuring Visuomotor Feedback Contributions to the Control of an Inverted Pendulum

• Published in: 2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) Vol. 2019; pp. 1513 - 1516
• Main Authors: Franklin, David W., Cesonis, Justinas, Franklin, Sae, Leib, Raz
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.07.2019
• Subjects: Atmospheric measurements; Biomechanical Phenomena; Feedback; Force; Humans; Motion; Particle measurements; Perturbation methods; Photic Stimulation; Postural Balance; Probes; Robots; Visualization
• DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2019.8857119
• ISSN: 1557-170X

We developed a new technique to measure the contributions of rapid visuomotor feedback responses to the stabilization of a simulated inverted pendulum. Human participants balanced an inverted pendulum simulated on a robotic manipulandum. At a random time during the balancing task, the visual representation of the tip of the pendulum was shifted by a small displacement to the left or right while the motor response was measured. This response was either the exerted force against a fixation position, or the motion to re-stabilize the pendulum in the free condition. Our results demonstrate that rapid involuntary visuomotor feedback responses contribute to the stabilization of the pendulum.