Differential effects of vision upon the accuracy and precision of vestibular‐evoked balance responses

摘要

Key points class="unordered" style="list-style-type:disc" id="tjp12920-list-0001">Effective balance control requires the transformation of vestibular signals from head‐ to foot‐centred coordinates in order to move the body in an appropriate direction.This transformation process has previously been studied by analysing the directional accuracy of the averaged sway response to multiple electrical vestibular stimuli (EVS).Here we studied trial‐by‐trial variability of EVS responses to measure any changes in directional precision which may be masked by the averaging process.We found that vision increased directional variability without influencing the mean sway direction, demonstrating that response accuracy and precision are dissociable.These results emphasise the importance of single trial analysis in determining the efficacy of vestibular control of balance.