Affiliations: [a] Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA | [b] Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60611, USA | [c] Department of Physiology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL 60610, USA | [d] Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Kelvin J. Chen, Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, The National Eye Institute, NIH, Building 49, Room 2A50, 49 Convent Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892-4435, USA. Fax: +1 301 402 0511; E-mail: [email protected]
Note: [**] Currently at Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, The National Eye Institute, Bethesda MD 20892-4435
Abstract: Control of the head involves somatosensory, vestibular, and visual feedback. The dynamics of these three feedback systems must be identified in order to gain a greater understanding of the head control system. We have completed one step in the development of a head control model by identifying the dynamics of the visual feedback system. A mathematical model of human head tracking of visual targets in the horizontal plane was fit to experimental data from seven subjects performing a visual head tracking task. The model incorporates components based on the underlying physiology of the head control system. Using optimization methods, we were able to identify neural processing delay, visual control gain, and neck viscosity parameters in each experimental subject.
Keywords: mathematical model, head control, vision, gaze
