Sensory substitution information informs locomotor adjustments when walking through apertures
Open accessAbstract
The study assessed the ability of the central nervous system (CNS) to use echoic information from sensory substitution devices (SSDs) to rotate the shoulders and safely pass through apertures of different width. Ten visually normal participants performed this task with full vision, or blindfolded using an SSD to obtain information regarding the width of an aperture created by two parallel panels. Two SSDs were tested. Participants passed through apertures of +0, +18, +35 and +70 % of measured body width. Kinematic indices recorded movement time, shoulder rotation, average walking velocity across the trial, peak walking velocities before crossing, after crossing and throughout a whole trial. Analyses showed participants used SSD information to regulate shoulder rotation, with greater rotation associated with narrower apertures. Rotations made using an SSD were greater compared to vision, movement times were longer, average walking velocity lower and peak velocities before crossing, after crossing and throughout the whole trial were smaller, suggesting greater caution. Collisions sometimes occurred using an SSD but not using vision, indicating that substituted information did not always result in accurate shoulder rotation judgements. No differences were found between the two SSDs. The data suggest that spatial information, provided by sensory substitution, allows the relative position of aperture panels to be internally represented, enabling the CNS to modify shoulder rotation according to aperture width. Increased buffer space indicated by greater rotations (up to approximately 35 % for apertures of +18 % of body width) suggests that spatial representations are not as accurate as offered by full vision.
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Teng and Whitney (2011) found sighted novices quickly learned to discriminate size and position through echolocation with notable precision.
“Teng and Whitney (2011) found that sighted novices quickly learned to discriminate size and position through echolocation with notable precision (see also Kolarik et al., 2014).”
From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Kolarik et al., 2014
Echolocation approaches yield promising results but the sound emission required makes this option impractical.
“While echolocation approaches are one option, yielding promising results (e.g. Ifukube, Sasaki, & Peng, 1991; Kolarik et al., 2014), the sound emission that is required makes this option in many ways impractical.”
From Designing sensory-substitution devices: Principles, pitfalls and potential1 (2016) · cites this paper as Kolarik et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Kolarik, A. J., Timmis, M. A., Cirstea, S., & Pardhan, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Anglia Ruskin University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Kolarik, Andrew J.
- Venue
- Experimental Brain Research
- Published
- 2013-12-27
- Volume
- 232
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 975-984
- ISSN
- 0014-4819 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-1106
- OpenAlex
- W2062507382
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 1.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Experimental Brain Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Anglia Ruskin Research Online (Anglia Ruskin University) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Anglia Ruskin University
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Keywords
- sensory substitution devices, shoulder rotation, spatial representation, blindfolded walking, walking speed, collision avoidance, visual deprivation
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adolescent, Adult, Biomechanical Phenomena, Female, Humans, Male, Movement, Psychomotor Performance, Rotation, Shoulder, Sound Localization, Space Perception, Time Factors, Walking, Young Adult
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