Head and Body Coordination during Locomotion and Complex Movements

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses theory in which it is argued that during complex movements, the head is stabilized intermittently under the control of gaze, and that this stabilization allows the head to serve as an inertial guidance platform for the control of multilimb movement. The otolithic organs, sacculus and utriculus, are inertial detectors of linear acceleration of the head in the plane of their macula. It is well established that in normal gravity conditions, although the perceived gravitational vertical deviates from the objective vertical by a few degrees, gravitational reference is used not only for posture but also for perceptual tasks that involve orientation in spac…