Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Phase-Linking And The Perceived Motion During Off-Vertical Axis Rotation, Jan E. Holly, Scott J. Wood, Gin Mccollum

Gin McCollum

Human off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) in the dark typically produces perceived motion about a cone, the amplitude of which changes as a function of frequency. This perception is commonly attributed to the fact that both the OVAR and the conical motion have a gravity vector that rotates about the subject. Little-known, however, is that this rotating-gravity explanation for perceived conical motion is inconsistent with basic observations about self-motion perception: (a) that the perceived vertical moves toward alignment with the gravito-inertial acceleration (GIA) and (b) that perceived translation arises from perceived linear acceleration, as derived from the portion of the GIA …

Constructive Perception Of Self-Motion, Jan E. Holly, Gin Mccollum

Gin McCollum

This review focusses attention on a ragged edge of our knowledge of self-motion perception, where understanding ends but there are experimental results to indicate that present approaches to analysis are inadequate. Although self-motion perception displays processes of “top-down” construction, it is typically analyzed as if it is nothing more than a deformation of the stimulus, using a “bottom-up” and input/output approach beginning with the transduction of the stimulus. Analysis often focusses on the extent to which passive transduction of the movement stimulus is accurate. Some perceptual processes that deform or transform the stimulus arise from the way known properties of …

Sensorimotor Coordination And The Structure Of Space, Gin Mccollum

Gin McCollum

Embedded in neural and behavioral organization is a structure of sensorimotor space. Both this embedded spatial structure and the structure of physical space inform sensorimotor control. This paper reviews studies in which the gravitational vertical and horizontal are crucial. The mathematical expressions of spatial geometry in these studies indicate methods for investigating sensorimotor control in freefall.

In freefall, the spatial structure introduced by gravitation – the distinction between vertical and horizontal – does not exist. However, an astronaut arriving in space carries the physiologically-embedded distinction between horizontal and vertical learned on earth. The physiological organization based on this distinction collapses …

The Shape Of Self-Motion Perception. Ii. Framework And Principles For Simple And Complex Motions, Jan E. Holly, Gin Mccollum

Gin McCollum

There have been numerous experimental studies on human perception and misperception of self-motion and orientation relative to the earth, each focusing on one or a few types of motion. We present a formal framework encompassing many types of motion and including all angular and linear components of velocity and acceleration. Using a mathematically rigorous presentation, the framework defines the space of all possible motions, the map from motion to sensor status, the space containing each possible status of the sensors, and the map from sensor status to perceived motion. The shape of the full perceptual map from actual motion to …