Marigold Daniel S, Patla Aftab E
Département de Physiologie, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3C 3J7.
Exp Brain Res. 2008 Jun;188(1):23-31. doi: 10.1007/s00221-008-1335-7. Epub 2008 Mar 6.
Visual information concerning characteristics of the environment is critical for safe navigation. The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of vision from the lower visual field for negotiating multi-surface terrain. Ten healthy young adults and ten healthy older adults walked across a walkway where the middle portion consisted of solid, rock, slippery, compliant, tilt, and irregular surfaces (i.e. multi-surface terrain). Participants performed the walking trials with and without special glasses that blocked the lower visual field. Head pitch angle along with step parameters were measured. Young and older adults demonstrated increased mean and maximum head pitch angle downward when the lower visual field was blocked suggesting the importance of vision from this area when stepping on multi-surface terrain. In addition, young and older adults altered their gait pattern by reducing gait speed and step length when the lower visual field was blocked. These results suggest that information from the lower visual field is normally used when walking across multi-surface terrain. The results have implications for those individuals who wear multi-focal glasses and who use them while walking in complex environments, which may challenge balance.
有关环境特征的视觉信息对于安全导航至关重要。本研究的目的是确定下视野视觉对于在多表面地形上行走的重要性。十名健康的年轻人和十名健康的老年人走过一条人行道，其中间部分由坚实、岩石、滑溜、柔顺、倾斜和不规则表面组成（即多表面地形）。参与者在佩戴和不佩戴遮挡下视野的特殊眼镜的情况下进行行走试验。测量头部俯仰角度以及步幅参数。年轻人和老年人在遮挡下视野时均表现出平均和最大头部俯仰角度向下增加，这表明在踏上多表面地形时该区域视觉的重要性。此外，年轻人和老年人在遮挡下视野时通过降低步态速度和步长来改变他们的步态模式。这些结果表明，在穿过多表面地形行走时通常会使用来自下视野的信息。这些结果对于那些佩戴多焦点眼镜并在复杂环境中行走时使用它们的人具有启示意义，这可能会挑战平衡。
