Sensorimotor control of balance

人类站立几乎是毫不费力的。在某些方面，我们的平衡系统就像我们的呼吸系统：两者都是不由自主地发生的，但我们知道它们的行为，并可以在需要时控制它们。这项拟议的研究计划将探索大脑如何调节站立平衡的自动控制，给我们留下一种非凡的感觉，即站立很容易。三个具体的研究目标将被解决：1)确定脚部负荷力如何有助于调节平衡活动，2)确定什么感觉运动信息参与平衡系统，以及3)了解感觉运动信息是如何在平衡系统中转换的。 这里提出的实验将使用一种新开发的站立平衡机器人，它允许神经系统马达输出与其机械后果分离。这一设备将为控制站立平衡提供新的见解，使我们能够提出没有它就无法回答的问题。利用这种机器人，结合记录和刺激技术，将探索站立平衡自动控制的生理机制。这项研究对于了解我们的神经系统如何识别与姿势相关的运动活动，以及它如何激活平衡控制系统非常重要。特别是，将研究前庭系统在识别与出生后相关的运动行为方面的作用。此外，我们还将研究脚上的感官信息在促进站立自动控制方面发挥重要作用的可能性。 本提案中描述的方法的验证将有可能重新引导对人类感觉运动功能的生理和临床研究，并为机器人站立控制提出新的建模途径。这项工作的主要受益者将是神经科学、姿势控制、计算机科学和工程领域的研究人员。

Human standing is almost effortless. In some ways, our balance system is like our respiratory system: both happen involuntarily, yet we are aware of their actions and can control them if needed. The proposed research program will explore how the brain regulates the automatic control of standing balance, leaving us with the remarkable sensation that standing is easy. Three specific research objectives will be addressed: 1) determine how foot loading forces contribute to the modulation of balance activity, 2) establish what sensorimotor information engages the balance system and 3) understand how sensorimotor information is transformed in the balance system. The experiments proposed here will use a newly developed standing balance robot that allows the dissociation of the nervous system motor output from its mechanical consequences. This apparatus will provide novel insights on the control of standing balance by allowing us to ask questions that could not be answered without it. Using this robot, in combination with recording and stimulation techniques, the physiological mechanisms underlying the automatic control of standing balance will be explored. This research is important to understand how our nervous system recognizes a motor activity as relevant to posture and how it consequently activates the balance control system. In particular, the role of the vestibular system in recognizing a motor behaviour as posturally-relevant will be studied. Also, the possibility that sensory information from our feet have an important role in facilitating the automatic control of standing will be investigated. The validation of the methods described in this proposal will have the potential to redirect physiological and clinical research into human sensorimotor function and propose new modelling avenues for the robotic control of standing. The principal beneficiaries of this work will be researchers working in the areas of neuroscience, postural control, computer science and engineering.