Employing a virtual environment in postural research and rehabilitation to reveal the impact of visual information

We have united an immersive virtual environment with support surface motion to record biomechanical and physiological responses to combined visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs. We have examined age-related differences during peripheral visual field motion and with a focal image projected on to the moving virtual scene. Our data suggest that the postural response is modulated by all existing sensory signals in a non-additive fashion. An individual's perception of the sensory structure appears to be a significant component of the postural response in these protocols. We will discuss the implications of these results to clinical interventions for balance disorders.