TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - The critical phase for visual control of human walking over complex terrain
JO  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
A1  - Matthis, Jonathan Samir
A1  - Barton, Sean L.
A1  - Fajen, Brett R.
SP  - E6720
EP  - E6729
VL  - 114
IS  - 32
N2  - To walk efficiently over complex terrain, humans must use vision to tailor their gait to the upcoming ground surface without interfering with the exploitation of passive mechanical forces. We propose that walkers use visual information to initialize the mechanical state of the body before the beginning of each step so the resulting ballistic trajectory of the walker's center-of-mass will facilitate stepping on target footholds. Using a precision stepping task and synchronizing target visibility to the gait cycle, we empirically validated two predictions derived from this strategy: (1) Walkers must have information about upcoming footholds during the second half of the preceding step, and (2) foot placement is guided by information about the position of the target foothold relative to the preceding base of support. We conclude that active and passive modes of control work synergistically to allow walkers to negotiate complex terrain with efficiency, stability, and precision.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0027-8424
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611699114
ID  - ref1
ER  -