The Control of Head Movements during Human Balance Corrections

Abstract

The assumption that the CNS regulates head stability during human balance corrections is explored in this review (an outgrowth of discussions initiated during the Head/Neck meeting held in Vail, Colorado, USA, July 1995). Two major questions were considered. First, how do the vestibulocollic (VCR) and cervicocollic (CCR) reflexes interact with intrinsic mechanical properties of the head neck system to control head position during balance corrections? Second, how is this interaction affected by factors such as vestibular loss, aging, and changes in behavioral goals or central set? The authors conclude that head velocities observed during balance corrections depend to a large extent on the movements of the head–neck mass-viscoelastic system whose properties could be altered by cocontracting the neck muscles. For experiments involving stance perturbations, much of the corrective response in neck muscles appeared to be triggered by trunk and leg proprioceptive signals, and a major role for the VCR was not established. Evidence consistent with a role for the vestibular system was found in other experimental paradigms in which the head was perturbed directly. In these paradigms the VCR modulates the amplitude of functionally stabilizing responses and damps mechanically induced instability of the head and neck.