Abstract

In 58 research reports, this volume assembles the latest findings on the role of vestibular and visual sensory inputs in the control of both normal and abnormal posture and locomotion. Contributions rely upon a multiplicity of research strategies and experimental designs, including neurophysiological, mathematical, biomechanical, and control theory models of postural control. Models useful in the clinical diagnosis of vestibular abnormalities, neuropathies, and ataxic disorders are also presented. The book is organized into seven main sections. The first features conceptual and biomechanical models useful in understanding the extreme complexity of the posture control system. Methods for the quantitative analysis of postural control mechanisms are presented in the second section, which describes a number of new tests based on technical and theoretical advances. Other sections cover the interactions between different sensory inputs on the control of equilibrium function, the effect of sustained weightlessness in a space environment on both the physiology and subjective perception of equilibrium, and the role of neural coding and transmission in the functional control of posture and movement. The volume concludes with reports on developmental and oculomotor studies and on pathological disorders associated with postural control. These include disorders due to alcoholism, methyl mercury poisoning and prolonged exposure to pesticides as well as Menieres disease and other major vestibular and ataxic disorders. Klappentext