Open AccessVisuomotor control of leaping over a raised obstacle is sensitive to small baseline displacements
Author(s) -
Katherine Daniels,
Jeremy F. Burn
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
royal society open science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 51
ISSN - 2054-5703
DOI - 10.1098/rsos.201877
Subject(s) - kinematics , obstacle , trajectory , computer science , translation (biology) , baseline (sea) , displacement (psychology) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , bar (unit) , position (finance) , control theory (sociology) , simulation , geometry , artificial intelligence , computer vision , geology , mathematics , physics , control (management) , psychology , biology , medicine , classical mechanics , geography , psychotherapist , oceanography , archaeology , biochemistry , finance , astronomy , messenger rna , economics , gene
The limb kinematics used for stepping or leaping over an obstacle are determined primarily by visual sensing of obstacle position and geometry. In this study, we demonstrate that changes are induced in limb kinematics even when obstacle geometry is manipulated in a way that does not introduce a mechanical requirement for a change of limb trajectory nor increase risk of collision. Human participants performed a running leap over a single raised obstacle bar. Kinematic changes were measured when an identical second bar was introduced at a ground level underneath the obstacle and displaced by a functionally insignificant distance along the axis of travel. The presence or absence of a baseline directly beneath the highest extremity had no significant effect on limb kinematics. However, displacing the baseline horizontally induced a horizontal translation of limb trajectory in the direction of the displacement. These results show that systematic changes to limb trajectories can occur in the absence of a change in sensed mechanical constraints or optimization. The nature of visuomotor control of human leaping may involve a continuous mapping of sensory input to kinematic output rather than one responsive only to information perceived to be mechanically relevant.