An ontogenetic model for the sensorimotor organization of balance control in humans

doi:10.1016/0167-9457(94)00048-J

Human Movement Science

Volume 14, Issue 1, June 1995, Pages 13-43

https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-9457(94)00048-J Get rights and content

Abstract

On the basis of a review of the literature including the authors' own experimental studies, a model for the ontogenesis of balance control in children was developed. This qualitative ontogenetic model has to do with the equilibrium strategies built up by children in situations which are difficult but within the scope of their abilities. The model involves two functional principles. First: The stable reference frame on which the balance control is based can be either the support on which the subject is standing or the vertical gravity. When the frame of reference is the support surface, balance control is temporally organized either from the feet to the head (posture) or from the hip to the head (locomotion) (ascending organization). When the frame of reference is the vertical gravity, balance control is temporally organized from the head to the feet (descending organization). Secondly: Children gradually become able to master the various degrees of freedom which have to be controlled simultaneously during movement. For example, the head can be stabilized either on the trunk with the neck structures blocked (the en bloc mode of operation) or in space with the neck structures loose (the articulated mode).

Four main periods can be said to occur during the human life span. The first extends from birth up to the acquisition of the upright stance. This period is characterized by the development of postural responses along a cephalocaudal gradient. This chronological cephalocaudal progression with age of the ability to control several body segments may correspond to a descending temporal organization of unperturbed postural control, associated with an articulated operation of the head-trunk unit. The second period takes place from the acquisition of the upright stance up to around the age of 6. During this period, our experimental results are consistent with an ascending organization of balance control, from the feet to the head in postural stance and from the hips to the head in locomotion. This ascending organization is associated with an en bloc mode of head-trunk operation, which serves to minimize the degrees of freedom. The third period begins at around the age of 7 and continues up to an upper age-limit which is as yet unknown. It is characterized by the return to an articulated mode of head—trunk operation, whereby the head stabilization necessary for the descending temporal organization of balance control is ensured. Lastly, the fourth period, which is reached during adulthood, combines the main features of the third period with a new skill involving the articulated operation of the head-trunk unit along with a selective control of the degrees of freedom at the neck level.

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An ontogenetic model for the sensorimotor organization of balance control in humans

Abstract

Human Movement Science

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology

Neuroscience Letters

Neuroscience Letters

Progress in Neurobiology

Human Movement Science

Human Movement Science

Neuroscience

Voluntary forward bending movement in humans: A principal component analysis of axial synergies

Role of foveal and peripheral visual information in maintenance of postural equilibrium in man

Perception and Motor Skills

Rôle de l'information visuelle du mouvement dans le maintien de l'équilibre postural chez l'homme

Agressologie

Lateral orientation and stabilization of human stance: Static versus dynamic visual cues

Experimental Brain Research

A statistical analysis of the kinematic of postural control

A statistical approach of sensorimotor strategies: Conjugate cross-correlations

Journal of Motor Behavior

Head stability under microgravity conditions during lateral rhythmic oscillations of the trunk

Contrôle visuel de l'équilibre locomoteur chez l'homme: Développement et stratégies sensori-motrices

Head stabilization in space while walking: Effect of visual restriction in children and adults

Head-trunk coordination and locomotor equilibrium in 3 to 8 year old children

Organization of balance control in children: An ontogenetic model

Ontogenesis of head stabilization in space during locomotion in children: Influence of visual cues

Experimental Brain Research

Peripheral vision and dynamic equilibrium control in five to twelve year old children

Discrete visual samples may control locomotor equilibrium and foot positioning in man

Journal of Motor Behavior

Hip stabilization and lateral balance control in toddlers during the first four months of autonomous walking

NeuroReport

Hip-centered organization of lateral balance control in toddlers

Head stabilization in space during rhythmic oscillations of the trunk in the frontal plane during parabolic flights

Development of repertoire of equlibrium strategies during the life span

Development of bilateral coordination of stance and gait in children

Developmental aspects of equilibrium control: A kinematic and EMG study

The coordination and regulation of movements

Visual-vestibular integration in early development

Intermittent head stabilization during postural and locomotory tasks in humans

Die Entwicklung der visuellen Stabilisation des aufrechten Standes beim Kind: Ein Reifezeichen in der Kinderneurologie

Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten

Analysis of the transition from upright stance to steady state locomotion in children with under 200 days of autonomous walking

Journal of Motor Behavior

Do temporal invariances exist as early as the first six months of independent walking?

Postural requirements and progression velocity in young walkers

Journal of Motor Behavior

Evidence for a vestibular input contributing to dynamic head stabilization in man

Acta Otolaryngology (Stockh.)

Motor development in children: Aspects of coordination and control

Visual proprioception and postural stability in infancy. A developmental study

Perception