Open AccessHuman perception of verticality: Psychophysical experiments on the centrifuge and their neuronal implications
Author(s) -
Mast Fred W.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5884.00146
Subject(s) - perception , plane (geometry) , otolith , psychology , coronal plane , normalization (sociology) , phenomenon , horizontal plane , cognitive psychology , physics , mathematics , geometry , neuroscience , anatomy , medicine , biology , quantum mechanics , fishery , sociology , fish <actinopterygii> , anthropology
The role of the otoliths in the perception of verticality is analyzed in two different gravitational environments, 1 g and 1.5 g , and in different roll body positions between upright and upside down. The subjective visual vertical (SVV) is determined when a subject judges the orientation of an indicator as apparently vertical. An increase of g level hardly affects the SVV in the subject's frontal plane (y‐z plane). However, for the first time, a three‐dimensionally adjustable indicator was used for the SVV and this revealed a new phenomenon: An increase of g level induces a backward slant of the SVV into subject's median plane (x‐z plane). The data are discussed with regard to Mittelstaedt's SVV theory; particular emphasis is given to the otolith‐head coordinate transformation and the normalization of afferent otolith components. The results of this study provide evidence that the former is implemented at an earlier level and thus precedes the latter.