Simulated Visual Field Loss Does Not Alter Turning Coordination in Healthy Young Adults

Abstract

Turning, while walking, is an important component of adaptive locomotion. Current hypotheses regarding the motor control of body segment coordination during turning suggest heavy influence of visual information. The authors aimed to examine whether visual field impairment (central loss or peripheral loss) affects body segment coordination during walking turns in healthy young adults. No significant differences in the onset time of segments or intersegment coordination were observed because of visual field occlusion. These results suggest that healthy young adults can use visual information obtained from central and peripheral visual fields interchangeably, pointing to flexibility of visuomotor control in healthy young adults. Further study in populations with chronic visual impairment and those with turning difficulties are warranted.

Peripheral vision in real-world tasks: A systematic review

“…If pedestrians are restricted from using peripheral vision by experimental manipulation -in particular, if they are unable to use the lower visual field (Marigold & Patla, 2008) -they behave much as when climbing an uneven staircase, that is, looking at each tread to plan a step (see also Miyasike-daSilva et al, 2019). On the other hand, restricting central vision (Murray et al, 2014) does not adversely impact stair-climbing behavior, although the lack of fine detail might prove problematic in less-predictable environments, and perhaps makes the transition between the stairs and a flat surface harder to navigate. It seems that climbing stairs is possible with peripheral vision only, but why do people not look at the stairs?…”

Simulation of visual impairment in persons with normal vision for scientific research

“…Of the 103 studies, 10 employed commercially produced SIM-SPECs to induce visual impairment or visual field defect (Table 1). [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Six used SIM-SPECs purchased from Fork in the Road Rehabilitation Services (lowvi sions imula tors. com).…”

“…com). 11,13,[15][16][17]19 Due to the varying conditions simulated by the different types of SIM-SPECs, different variations of the glasses were sometimes selected, depending on the particular objectives of the study. For example, Juniat et al 13 chose the SIM-SPECs that produced the effects of age-related macular degeneration and the peripheral loss that is associated with glaucoma.…”

“…Similarly, Murray et al 15 used SIM-SPECs that simulated central vision loss with a large 2-cm diameter dot, which covered the central area of the goggles while the peripheral field was covered with a semi-transparent screen to allow some visual information, but stopped the participant from being able to look out of the side of the goggles. Cambridge simulation glasses (inclu sived esign toolk it.…”

A systematic review of extended reality (XR) for understanding and augmenting vision loss

“…All studies could be categorized as focusing on low-level visual function measurements ( n = 47) such as acuity, contrast detection threshold, and orientation discrimination (e.g., Tatiyosyan, Rifai, & Wahl, 2020 ; Léné et al., 2020 ; Butt, Crossland, West, Orr, & Rubin, 2015 ; Almutleb, Bradley, Jedlicka, & Hassan, 2018 ); mid- to high-level visual function tasks ( n = 111) such as visual search and object recognition (e.g., Walsh & Liu, 2014 ; Geringswald & Pollmann, 2015 ; Geringswald, Porracin, & Pollmann, 2016 ; Liu & Kwon, 2016 ); or high-level spatial cognition tasks ( n = 72) such as wayfinding and obstacle avoidance tasks (e.g., Alberti, Horowitz, Bronstad, & Bowers, 2014 ; Zult, Allsop, Timmis, & Pardhan, 2019 ; Rand, Creem-Regehr, & Thompson, 2015 ; Murray et al., 2014 ) that require object recognition as well as locomotion.…”