Comparison of reaction times between acceleration and displacement threshold testing in young adults on an anterior translating platform

Our studies have focused on the psychophysical detectability and physiological responses of individuals to short movements of a translating platform on which a subject stands. The current study inverted the dependent and independent variables of a previous study by fixing the acceleration values at discrete intensities and adaptively adjusting the displacement lengths to determine threshold displacements. For small, high acceleration motions, no difference in reaction times are apparent. However, when testing larger displacement and slower acceleration motions, faster reaction times indicate that acceleration may be the factor being sensed and interpreted via the vestibular and peripheral nervous system sensory cells.