Switching structural biomechanical model of multisensory integration during human quiet standing

In this paper, we investigate the control mechanism of a quiet upright standing posture of human in control theoretical point of view. Based on the various physiological knowledge, we propose a new biomechanical model whose mechanism is essentially switching control scheme for a variation of the multisensory integration. This model can reproduce a behavior of human trunk sway by switching the integration scheme of sensory information appropriately, which is validated by comparing the behavior of our model with two different physiological experimental results. Furthermore, this model allows us to investigate the influences of time delay in the central nervous system for the ability of maintaining human balance during a quiet standing, which reveals the cause of elderly people´s fall and is helpful in the prevention of an injury due to such a fall.