Human sensitivity to vertical self-motion

Perceiving vertical self-motion is crucial for maintaining balance as well as for controlling an aircraft. Whereas heave absolute thresholds have been exhaustively studied, little work has been done in investigating how vertical sensitivity depends on motion intensity (i.e., differential thresholds)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental brain research 2014-01, Vol.232 (1), p.303-314
Main Authors: Nesti, Alessandro, Barnett-Cowan, Michael, MacNeilage, Paul R., Bülthoff, Heinrich H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Brain research
Differential Threshold
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gravitation
Gravity
Humans
Male
Motion
Motion perception (Vision)
Motion Perception - physiology
Neurology
Neurosciences
Perceptions
Physiological aspects
Posture - physiology
Research Article
Sensorimotor integration
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Vestibular apparatus
Young Adult
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Summary:Perceiving vertical self-motion is crucial for maintaining balance as well as for controlling an aircraft. Whereas heave absolute thresholds have been exhaustively studied, little work has been done in investigating how vertical sensitivity depends on motion intensity (i.e., differential thresholds). Here we measure human sensitivity for 1-Hz sinusoidal accelerations for 10 participants in darkness. Absolute and differential thresholds are measured for upward and downward translations independently at 5 different peak amplitudes ranging from 0 to 2 m/s 2 . Overall vertical differential thresholds are higher than horizontal differential thresholds found in the literature. Psychometric functions are fit in linear and logarithmic space, with goodness of fit being similar in both cases. Differential thresholds are higher for upward as compared to downward motion and increase with stimulus intensity following a trend best described by two power laws. The power laws’ exponents of 0.60 and 0.42 for upward and downward motion, respectively, deviate from Weber’s Law in that thresholds increase less than expected at high stimulus intensity. We speculate that increased sensitivity at high accelerations and greater sensitivity to downward than upward self-motion may reflect adaptations to avoid falling.
ISSN:0014-4819
1432-1106
DOI:10.1007/s00221-013-3741-8