Postural stability and optic flow sensitivity following sight restoration from congenital bilateral cataracts

Vision is crucial for maintaining balance and facilitating locomotion. Optic flow, for example, provides key self-motion cues for navigation. Congenital blindness typically leads to increased postural sway and impaired navigation. Here, we investigated postural stability and optic flow sensitivity in individuals surgically treated for congenital dense bilateral cataracts years after birth. Experiment 1 assessed whether cataract-treated participants rely on vision to stabilize their stance with eyes open compared to closed. In contrast to controls, cataract-treated participants only marginally decreased their sway with open eyes, indicating a reduced ability to use vision for stabilization. Interestingly, they improved over time following surgery, suggesting partial learning in utilizing visual input to enhance stability. Experiment 2 assessed whether different radial and translational optic flow patterns elicit distinct effects on body sway, which would indicate illusory sensorimotor pe..., In Experiment 1, cataract-treated participants and sighted controls stood on a foam pad placed on a Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Their static balance was recorded under two conditions: with eyes open and closed. In the closed eyes condition, participants were blindfolded to ensure that even if they briefly opened their eyes, they would still be unable to see anything. The order of the two conditions was counterbalanced across participants, with each condition lasting 40 s. Data was recorded with a sampling rate of 30 Hz. Body sway was assessed by determining the area of the 95% confidence ellipse for each participant and condition.
In Experiment 2, we tested static balance in a group of cataract-treated participants, a group of age-matched sighted controls tested in normal visual conditions, and a second group of age-matched sighted controls tested with visual blur. Participants were tested during the presentation of a static baseline (static), during which a static field of 300 dots was..., , # Postural stability and optic flow sensitivity following sight restoration from congenital bilateral cataracts

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkm9b](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkm9b)

The file contains the full dataset for Experiments 1 and 2. Exp1.txt displays results for Experiment 1, including individual values for the area of the 95% confidence ellipse for each participant under both open and closed eyes conditions. Data is presented for both the cataract-treated group and the sighted control group. Exp2_3groups.txt displays results for Experiment 2 for the 3 groups (cataract-treated, sighted tested in normal visual conditions, and sighted tested with visual blur). It includes individual values for the area of the 95% confidence ellipse and the standard deviations (SD) along the anteroposterior (AP-SD) and mediolateral (ML-SD) directions for each participant and condition (two repetitions of the static condition, radial expanding optic flow, radial contracting optic flo...,