Off-Vertical Body Orientation Delays the Perceived Onset of Visual Motion. 2023

William Chung, and Michael Barnett-Cowan
Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada.

The integration of vestibular, visual and body cues is a fundamental process in the perception of self-motion and is commonly experienced in an upright posture. However, when the body is tilted in an off-vertical orientation these signals are no longer aligned relative to the influence of gravity. In this study, the perceived timing of visual motion was examined in the presence of sensory conflict introduced by manipulating the orientation of the body, generating a mismatch between body and vestibular cues due to gravity and creating an ambiguous vestibular signal of either head tilt or translation. In a series of temporal-order judgment tasks, participants reported the perceived onset of a visual scene simulating rotation around the yaw axis presented in virtual reality with a paired auditory tone while in an upright, supine and side-recumbent body position. The results revealed that the perceived onset of visual motion was further delayed from zero (i.e., true simultaneity between visual onset and a reference auditory tone) by approximately an additional 30 ms when viewed in a supine or side-recumbent orientation compared to an upright posture. There were also no significant differences in the timing estimates of the visual motion between all the non-upright orientations. This indicates that the perceived timing of visual motion is negatively impacted by the presence of conflict in the vestibular and body signals due to the direction of gravity and body orientation, even when the mismatch is not in the direct plane of the axis of rotation.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D009039 Motion Perception The real or apparent movement of objects through the visual field. Movement Perception,Perception, Motion,Perception, Movement
D009949 Orientation Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person. Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D006112 Gravitation Acceleration produced by the mutual attraction of two masses, and of magnitude inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two centers of mass. It is also the force imparted by the earth, moon, or a planet to an object near its surface. (From NASA Thesaurus, 1988) G Force,Gravistimulation,Gravity,Force, G,G Forces,Gravities
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000078783 Standing Position Human position in which the body is held in an upright orthostatic position and supported only by the feet. Position, Standing,Standing Positions
D012399 Rotation Motion of an object in which either one or more points on a line are fixed. It is also the motion of a particle about a fixed point. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed) Clinorotation,Clinorotations,Rotations
D013028 Space Perception The awareness of the spatial properties of objects; includes physical space. Perception, Space,Perceptions, Space,Space Perceptions
D014722 Vestibule, Labyrinth An oval, bony chamber of the inner ear, part of the bony labyrinth. It is continuous with bony COCHLEA anteriorly, and SEMICIRCULAR CANALS posteriorly. The vestibule contains two communicating sacs (utricle and saccule) of the balancing apparatus. The oval window on its lateral wall is occupied by the base of the STAPES of the MIDDLE EAR. Vestibular Apparatus,Ear Vestibule,Vestibular Labyrinth,Vestibule of Ear,Vestibulum Auris,Apparatus, Vestibular,Ear Vestibules,Labyrinth Vestibule,Labyrinth Vestibules,Labyrinth, Vestibular,Labyrinths, Vestibular,Vestibular Labyrinths,Vestibule, Ear,Vestibules, Ear,Vestibules, Labyrinth
D014796 Visual Perception The selecting and organizing of visual stimuli based on the individual's past experience. Visual Processing,Perception, Visual,Processing, Visual

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