• DOI:10.1142/S0219635203000263
• Corpus ID: 14565593

Closing an open-loop control system: vestibular substitution through the tongue.

@article{Tyler2003ClosingAO,
  title={Closing an open-loop control system: vestibular substitution through the tongue.},
  author={Mitchell E. Tyler and Yuri P. Danilov and Paul Bach-y-Rita},
  journal={Journal of integrative neuroscience},
  year={2003},
  volume={2 2},
  pages={
          159-64
        }
}

• M. Tyler, Y. Danilov, P. Bach-y-Rita
• Published 1 December 2003
• Biology
• Journal of integrative neuroscience

The human postural coordination mechanism is an example of a complex closed-loop control system based on multisensory integration [9,10,13,14]. In models of this process, sensory data from vestibular, visual, tactile and proprioceptive systems are integrated as linearly additive inputs that drive multiple sensory-motor loops to provide effective coordination of body movement, posture and alignment [5-8, 10, 11]. In the absence of normal vestibular (such as from a toxic drug reaction) and other inputs, unstable posture occurs. This instability may be the result of noise in a functionally open-loop control system [9]. Nonetheless, after sensory loss the brain can utilize tactile information from a sensory substitution system for functional compensation [1-4, 12]. Here we have demonstrated that head-body postural coordination can be restored by means of vestibular substitution using a head-mounted accelerometer and a brain-machine interface that employs a unique pattern of electrotactile stimulation on the tongue. Moreover, postural stability persists for a period of time after removing the vestibular substitution, after which the open-loop instability reappears.