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Data from: Visual context influences how humans walk on winding paths

Render, Anna1; Cusumano, Joseph1; Singh, Tarkeshwar1; Dingwell, Jonathan1

Published Feb 13, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7sqv9s56j

Data files

Feb 13, 2026 version files 24.81 GB

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Abstract

During walking, proactive balance control mechanisms enable individuals to anticipate and respond to changes in their environment, such as terrain layout or obstacles. These mechanisms rely on sensory inputs, particularly vision, to adjust gait patterns in advance. Visuomotor coupling integrates information from central and peripheral vision to guide locomotion. Central vision provides detailed information about the walking path, including surface characteristics and layout. Peripheral vision processes environmental landmarks to support spatial orientation, depth perception, and self-motion. Together, these inputs allow the nervous system to plan and execute gait adjustments. Disruptions to visual information, whether due to reduced visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, or environmental conditions, can significantly alter walking behavior and challenge proactive balance control. The study associated with these data was designed to investigate how changes in the availability of central and peripheral visual information affect walking behavior when the fundamental walking task remains the same. It also investigated whether these effects vary with path complexity. For the study, 28 young healthy human adult participants (16F/12M; Age 26.2±4.2yrs) walked on both straight and winding virtual paths, while visual information from the walking path and surrounding environment was systematically reduced. This dataset includes their head, pelvis, and feet kinematics as they performed each of these tasks. Additional files provide participant characteristics, such as demographics, anthropometrics, and assessment scores, as well as a marker-set definition key. The study was designed to grow our understanding of visual perception-driven gait adaptations during different goal-directed walking tasks. These data offer a resource to investigate visual and mechanical factors that affect dynamic balance control during walking.