Waki Ryotaro, Sato Kazuyuki, Inoue Junki, Yamada Minoru, Higuchi Takahiro
Department of Health Promotion Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Rehabilitation, Nakagawanosato Rehabilitation Center for Children with Disabilities, Saitama, Japan.
Front Sports Act Living. 2025 Mar 19;7:1526576. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1526576. eCollection 2025.
The ability to visually recognize the path ahead during walking is essential for adjusting gait patterns in an anticipatory manner to mitigate perturbations induced by tripping. In this study, we aimed to develop a walking task within a virtual reality (VR) environment, termed the VR multi-target stepping (VR-MTS) task, as a method to evaluate the extent to which individuals can recognize the path ahead while continuously stepping on footfall targets.
As an initial study for the development of the VR multi-target stepping (VR-MTS) task, we tested a sample of young individuals (8 males and 5 females, aged 26.2 ± 3.7 years). Participants donned a head-mounted display (HMD) and walked for a distance of 4 m, under four distinct conditions. Participants were instructed to step on squares of specific color and that participants were instructed to step onto white squares that had been of the footfall target color for all conditions. In three of these conditions, all three colored squares present in the same row-located either one, two, or three rows ahead of the participants-were programmed to change to white (i.e., N + 1, N + 2, and N + 3 conditions). This setup was designed to evaluate the participant's ability to recognize the colors of the footfall targets at varying distances. In the control condition, no changes occurred in the colored squares during the walking task.
The rate of stepping failure was significantly higher under the N + 3 condition compared to the other three conditions. This finding suggests that young individuals are capable of recognizing footfall targets approximately two rows ahead when performing the VR multi-target stepping (VR-MTS) task but encounter difficulties when attempting to recognize targets located three rows ahead. Under the N + 3 condition, participants frequently stepped onto distractor squares, indicating a failure to recognize the stepping target situated three rows ahead, resulting in a random selection of the square to step on. Based on these findings, we conclude that the VR-MTS task is a valid method for evaluating visual recognition of the future path while stepping on multiple footfall targets.
在行走过程中视觉识别前方路径的能力对于以预期方式调整步态模式以减轻绊倒引起的干扰至关重要。在本研究中，我们旨在开发一种虚拟现实（VR）环境中的行走任务，称为VR多目标踏步（VR-MTS）任务，作为一种评估个体在持续踩踏脚步目标时识别前方路径程度的方法。
作为开发VR多目标踏步（VR-MTS）任务的初步研究，我们测试了一组年轻个体（8名男性和5名女性，年龄26.2±3.7岁）。参与者佩戴头戴式显示器（HMD），在四种不同条件下行走4米。参与者被指示踩踏特定颜色的方块，并且在所有条件下，参与者被指示踩踏曾是脚步目标颜色的白色方块。在其中三种条件下，同一行中出现的所有三个彩色方块（位于参与者前方一排、两排或三排）被编程为变为白色（即N + 1、N + 2和N + 3条件）。此设置旨在评估参与者识别不同距离处脚步目标颜色的能力。在对照条件下，行走任务期间彩色方块没有变化。
与其他三种条件相比，N + 3条件下的踩踏失败率显著更高。这一发现表明，年轻个体在执行VR多目标踏步（VR-MTS）任务时能够识别前方大约两排的脚步目标，但在试图识别前方三排的目标时会遇到困难。在N + 3条件下，参与者经常踩踏干扰方块，表明未能识别位于前方三排的踏步目标，导致随机选择要踩踏的方块。基于这些发现，我们得出结论，VR-MTS任务是一种评估在踩踏多个脚步目标时对未来路径的视觉识别的有效方法。
