TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2015//
TI  - Sound-evoked vestibular stimulation affects the anticipation of gravity effects during visual self-motion
JO  - Experimental brain research
A1  - Indovina, Iole
A1  - Mazzarella, Elisabetta
A1  - Maffei, Vincenzo
A1  - Cesqui, Benedetta
A1  - Passamonti, Luca
A1  - Lacquaniti, Francesco
SP  - 2365
EP  - 2371
VL  - 233
IS  - 8
N2  - 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.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0014-4819
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4306-9
ID  - ref1
ER  -