No Evidence That Frontal Optical Flow Affects Perceived Locomotor Speed and Locomotor Biomechanics When Running on a Treadmill
by
Martina Caramenti 1,2,3,*
, Claudio L. Lafortuna 4, Elena Mugellini 3, 
Omar Abou Khaled 3, Jean-Pierre Bresciani 1,5,† and Amandine Dubois 1,6,†
Martina Caramenti 1,2,3,*, Claudio L. Lafortuna 4, Elena Mugellini 3, Omar Abou Khaled 3, Jean-Pierre Bresciani 1,5,† and Amandine Dubois 1,6,†
1
Department of Neuroscience and Movement Science, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
2
Istituto di Bioimmagini e Fisiologia Molecolare, CNR, 20090 Segrate (Milano), Italy
3
HumanTech Institute, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, 1705 Fribourg, Switzerland
4
Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica, CNR, 20162 Milano, Italy
5
Université Grenoble-Alpes, LPNC, F-38000 Grenoble, France
6
Université de Lorraine, 2LPN-CEMA Group (Cognition-EMotion-Action), EA 7489, F-57070 Metz, France
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(21), 4589; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9214589
Received: 9 October 2019 / Revised: 22 October 2019 / Accepted: 24 October 2019 / Published: 29 October 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomechanical Spectrum of Human Sport Performance)
We investigated how the presentation and the manipulation of an optical flow while running on a treadmill affect perceived locomotor speed (Experiment 1) and gait parameters (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 12 healthy participants were instructed to run at an imposed speed and to focus on their sensorimotor sensations to be able to reproduce this running speed later. After a pause, they had to retrieve the reference locomotor speed by manipulating the treadmill speed while being presented with different optical flow conditions, namely no optical flow or a matching/slower/faster optical flow. In Experiment 2, 20 healthy participants ran at a previously self-selected constant speed while being presented with different optical flow conditions (see Experiment 1). The results did not show any effect of the presence and manipulation of the optical flow either on perceived locomotor speed or on the biomechanics of treadmill running. Specifically, the ability to retrieve the reference locomotor speed was similar for all optical flow conditions. Manipulating the speed of the optical flow did not affect the spatiotemporal gait parameters and also failed to affect the treadmill running accommodation process. Nevertheless, the virtual reality conditions affected the heart rate of the participants but without affecting perceived effort.
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Keywords:
virtual reality; visual speed perception; treadmill running; self-motion perception; optical flow; locomotion; biomechanics
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MDPI and ACS Style
Caramenti, M.; Lafortuna, C.L.; Mugellini, E.; Abou Khaled, O.; Bresciani, J.-P.; Dubois, A. No Evidence That Frontal Optical Flow Affects Perceived Locomotor Speed and Locomotor Biomechanics When Running on a Treadmill. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 4589.
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