Shared computational mechanism for tilt compensation accounts for biased verticality percepts in motion and pattern vision
Publication year
2008Source
Journal of Neurophysiology, 99, 2, (2008), pp. 915-930ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

Display more detailsDisplay less details
Organization
SW OZ DCC CO
Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
Former Organization
F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
Journal title
Journal of Neurophysiology
Volume
vol. 99
Issue
iss. 2
Page start
p. 915
Page end
p. 930
Subject
Action, intention, and motor control; DI-BCB_DCC_Theme 2: Perception, Action and ControlAbstract
To determine the direction of object motion in external space, the brain must combine retinal motion signals and information about the orientation of the eyes in space. We assessed the accuracy of this process in eight laterally tilted subjects who aligned the motion direction of a random-dot pattern (30% coherence, moving at 6°/s) with their perceived direction of gravity (motion vertical) in otherwise complete darkness. For comparison, we also tested the ability to align an adjustable visual line (12° diameter) to the direction of gravity (line vertical). For small head tilts (<40°), systematic errors in either task were almost negligible. In contrast, tilts >60° revealed a pattern of large systematic errors (often >30°) that was virtually identical in both tasks. Regression analysis confirmed that mean errors in the two tasks were closely related, with slopes close to 1.0 and correlations >0.89. Control experiments ruled out that motion settings were based on processing of individual single-dot paths. We conclude that the conversion of both motion direction and line orientation on the retina into a spatial frame of reference involves a shared computational strategy. Simulations with two spatial-orientation models suggest that the pattern of systematic errors may be the downside of an optimal strategy for dealing with imperfections in the tilt signal that is implemented before the reference-frame transformation.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [202828]
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging [3356]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [27108]
Upload full text
Use your RU credentials (u/z-number and password) to log in with SURFconext to upload a file for processing by the repository team.