Citation

Indovina I, Mazzarella E, Maffei V, Cesqui B, Passamonti L, Lacquaniti F. Exp. Brain Res. 2015; 233(8): 2365-2371.

Affiliation

Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179, Rome, Italy, i.indovina@hsantalucia.it.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00221-015-4306-9

PMID

26003125

Abstract

Humans anticipate the effects of gravity during visually simulated self-motion in the vertical direction. Here we report that an artificial vestibular stimulation consisting of short-tone bursts (STB) suppresses this anticipation. Participants pressed a button upon entering a tunnel during virtual-reality roller coaster rides in downward or forward directions. In different trials, we delivered STB, pulsed white noise (WN), or no sound (NO). In the control conditions (WN, NO), participants responded earlier during downward than forward motion irrespective of true kinematics, consistent with the a priori expectation that downward but not forward motion is accelerated by gravity. STB canceled the difference in response timing between the two directions, without affecting overall task performance. Thus, we argue that vestibular signals play a role in the anticipation of visible gravity effects during self-motion.

Language: en