Postural Reactions to the Sounds of Approaching Footsteps from in Front and Behind in People with Different Perceptive-Cognitive Styles

The field-dependence as perceptual-cognitive style determinesthe principal modality in space orientation and influences in posturecontrol without distant stimulation. The aim of the work was to analyzestabilometric parameters in groups of field-dependent (FD) and field-independent(FI) subjects to describe postural sway in response to sound signalsof a conspecific movement. The stabilograms were recorded for twogroups of subjects (12 FD and 12 FI) in standard postures—heelstogether, toes apart, hands down along the body, eyes closed. Thesounds of steps were created on the basis of a pre-recording ina room with reverberation. In free field three types of stimulationwere used: steps approaching from behind and from the front; a controlsignal—a repeated step in place, given from behind. The changesof the center of pressure (CoP) position were analyzed for 64 swith a period of 8 s: before (1), during (3) and after (4) stimulation.The CoP parameters were the shift and the length of CoP trajectoryalong the sagittal axis, and the area of the confidence ellipse.A slight destabilization of the posture during sound stimulationwas shown in both groups of subjects. Differences between the groupswere revealed: with the onset of the approaching step sounds theFD-subjects shifted the CoP away from the sounds (the “run” strategy),while the FI subjects shifted the CoP toward the sounds (the “hit”strategy). The results obtained substantiate the possibility touse the conspecific sound stimulation in rehabilitation procedures inthe treatment of musculoskeletal diseases taking into account theindividual characteristics of perception in patients.