Effects of neck muscles vibration on the perception of the head and trunk midline position

The present study focused on the influence of neck vibration on the perception of the head and trunk midline position (orientation and localization). The orientation of the head and trunk was investigated by the rolling adjustment of a rod on their midline while their localization was investigated by the adjustment of the position of a visual dot as being straight-ahead the eyes or the sternum. The first experiment investigated whether a head-trunk dissociation was induced by the unilateral vibration of neck muscles in upright and restrained subjects. Results showed that the subjective orientation and localization of whole-body midline were shifted toward the vibrated side. The second experiment determined the effect of the neck muscles vibration when the subjects were lying on their side. The effect of vibration disappeared when the side of vibration was opposed to the side of postural inclination and it was stronger than in the upright position when the side of vibration and the side of postural inclination were congruent. Whereas, results suggested that the input from neck muscle proprioceptors participates directly to the elaboration of the egocentric space, the question may be raised as to how the sensory cues interacted in their contribution to the neural generation of an egocentric, body centred coordinate system.