Selection of spatial frame of reference and postural control variability

The present paper addresses the question of the possible links between perceptive visual field dependence-independence and the visual contribution to postural control. In our differential approach, visual field dependent (FD) and independent (FI) subjects were selected on the basis of their score in the Rod and Frame Test (subjective vertical). The hypothesis that we have tested is that the FD subjects use mainly visual cues for estimating not only their subjective vertical but also their body orientation and stability. Moreover, we have postulated that these subjects use mainly dynamic visual cues to control their postural stability. In the postural test, the selected subjects were instructed to stand in the sharpened Romberg position in darkness and under normal or stroboscopic illumination, in front of either a vertical or a tilted frame. Lateral head and body orientation and stability were measured. We found that: (1) all subjects leaned slightly towards the tilted frame (postural frame effect), and this was obtained on the basis of the static visual cues alone; (2) FD subjects were less stable than FI subjects, and their stability required the use of dynamic visual cues, mainly extracted from the vertical frame. In FI subjects, static visual cues may act as a complementary regulation, enhancing stability even with a strobe tilted frame. We thus demonstrate that visual field dependence interacts with the visual contribution to postural control.