The relation between balancing performance and reaction time is investigated for human subjects balancing on rolling balance board of adjustable physical parameters: adjustable rolling radius R and adjustable board elevation h. A well-defined measure of balancing performance is whether a subject can or cannot balance on balance board with a given geometry (R, h). The balancing ability is linked to the stabilizability of the underlying two-degree-of-freedom mechanical model subject to a delayed proportional–derivative feedback control. Although different sensory perceptions involve different reaction times at different hierarchical feedback loops, their effect is modelled as a single lumped reaction time delay. Stabilizability is investigated in terms of the time delay in the mechanical model: if the delay is larger than a critical value (critical delay), then no stabilizing feedback control exists. Series of balancing trials by 15 human subjects show that it is more difficult to balance on balance board configuration associated with smaller critical delay, than on balance boards associated with larger critical delay. Experiments verify the feature of the mechanical model that a change in the rolling radius R results in larger change in the difficulty of the task than the same change in the board elevation h does. The rolling balance board characterized by the two well-defined parameters R and h can therefore be a useful device to assess human balancing skill and to estimate the corresponding lumped reaction time delay.

研究了人体在可调节物理参数的滚动平衡板上平衡性能与反应时间的关系：可调节滚动半径R和可调节板高度h。平衡性能的一个明确的衡量标准是受试者是否可以或不能在给定几何形状的平衡板上平衡（R，h）。平衡能力与受到延迟比例微分反馈控制的潜在二自由度机械模型的稳定性有关。尽管不同的感官知觉在不同的层次反馈回路中涉及不同的反应时间，但它们的效果被建模为单个集中反应时间延迟。稳定性是根据机械模型中的时间延迟来研究的：如果延迟大于临界值（临界延迟），则不存在稳定反馈控制。由 15 名人类受试者进行的一系列平衡试验表明，在与较小关键延迟相关的平衡板配置上进行平衡比在与较大关键延迟相关的平衡板上进行平衡更困难。R导致任务难度的变化大于相同的板高程变化变化。因此，以两个明确定义的参数R和h为特征的滚动平衡板可以成为评估人类平衡技能和估计相应的集中反应时间延迟的有用设备。