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Gaze anticipation during human locomotion

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Abstract

During locomotion, a top-down organization has been previously demonstrated with the head as a stabilized platform and gaze anticipating the horizontal direction of the trajectory. However, the quantitative assessment of the anticipatory sequence from gaze to trajectory and body segments has not been documented. The present paper provides a detailed investigation into the spatial and temporal anticipatory relationships among the direction of gaze and body segments during locomotion. Participants had to walk along several mentally simulated complex trajectories, without any visual cues indicating the trajectory to follow. The trajectory shapes were presented to the participants on a sheet of paper. Our study includes an analysis of the relationships between horizontal gaze anticipatory behavior direction and the upcoming changes in the trajectory. Our findings confirm the following: 1) The hierarchical ordered organization of gaze and body segment orientations during complex trajectories and free locomotion. Gaze direction anticipates the head orientation, and head orientation anticipates reorientation of the other body segments. 2) The influence of the curvature of the trajectory and constraints of the tasks on the temporal and spatial relationships between gaze and the body segments: Increased curvature resulted in increased time and spatial anticipation. 3) A different sequence of gaze movements at inflection points where gaze plans a much later segment of the trajectory.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the LOCANTHROPE ANR project and ROBOSOM project, and Neuropôle Ile de France—NEUROPACT project. D. Bernardin was supported by the French Public Transportation—RATP and ROBOSOM project. H. Kadone was supported by a position as Maitre de Conférence at the Collège de France. Expert technical assistance was provided by Mocaplab. The authors are grateful to Remy Brun and his team for help with data collection and to France Maloumian for help with illustration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LPPA, UMR7152, CNRS-Collège de France, 11, Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005, Paris, France

    Delphine Bernardin, Hideki Kadone, Mohamed Zaoui & Alain Berthoz

  2. Center for Cybernics Research, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Hideki Kadone

  3. Dynamic and Geometry Laboratory, UMR 7586, Institut of Mathematiques of Jussieu, University Paris 7, Paris, France

    Daniel Bennequin

  4. Human Machine Integration Laboratory, College of Technology and Innovation, Department of Engineering, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Thomas Sugar

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  1. Delphine Bernardin
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  2. Hideki Kadone
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  3. Daniel Bennequin
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  4. Thomas Sugar
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  5. Mohamed Zaoui
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  6. Alain Berthoz
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Correspondence to Delphine Bernardin or Hideki Kadone.

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Bernardin, D., Kadone, H., Bennequin, D. et al. Gaze anticipation during human locomotion. Exp Brain Res 223, 65–78 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3241-2

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