Getting completely turned around: how disorientation impacts subjective straight ahead

Abstract

In manipulating a pointer to indicate subjective straight ahead (SSA), participants were more variable after a series of whole-body rotations in conjunction with external sensory blockade than after external sensory blockade alone. The variability of reported SSA did not increase consequent to a temporal delay matched to the time taken by the rotation procedure. The results suggest that an observer’s egocentric reference frame is more complex and less stable than has previously been thought.