Visual distractor interference on foot movements during walking J Fennell, K Nash, U Leonards |
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School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
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| Distractor interference is a well-studied phenomenon in vision-and-action: when selecting a visual target in the environment to act upon, a distractor in close proximity to the movement trajectory will impact on the actual movement – be it a hand or an eye-movement. Here we investigated whether distractor interference also impacts on the visually-guided action of the lower limbs. In a “stepping stone” walking task, twenty-five participants stepped on predefined target elements projected onto the floor in the presence or absence of visually easily distinguishable distractors. As measured with 3D motion capture, participants slowed down when distractors were present (t(7256)=7.265, p<.0001) and their stepping accuracy (landing position on target) was reduced (t(7246)=1.952, p=0.05). Comparing foot movement trajectories of similar stepping speed for distractor-present and distractor-absent trials also revealed that trajectories for the former were significantly more curved than those for the latter (for 21 out of 25 of the participants), in direct analogy to saccade curvature or hand movement curvature. Results will be discussed with respect to current biomechanical models and possible implications for balance loss and falls risk. |
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