Augmented Sensory Biofeedback for Dynamic Postural Control: Visual vs. Auditory

Augmented sensory biofeedback (BF) for postural control is widely used to improve postural stability. However, the effective sensory information in BF systems of motor learning for postural control is still unknown. The purpose of these studies was to investigate the learning effects of consecutive visual versus auditory BF training by experiment 1, and discrete visual versus auditory BF training by experiment 2 in dynamic postural control. In test sessions, participants were asked to bring the real-time center of pressure in line with a hidden target by body sway in the sagittal plane. The perceptual magnitudes of visual and auditory BF were equalized according to Stevens’ power law. At the retention test, the auditory but not visual BF group demonstrated decreased postural performance errors in both the spatial and temporal parameters under the no-feedback condition in both consecutive and discrete BF training. These findings suggest that visual BF increases the dependence on visual information to control postural performance, while auditory BF may enhance the integration of augmented BF and the proprioceptive sensory system, which contributes to motor learning without BF. These results provide fundamental evidence for effective sensory BF training in dynamic postural control.