Updating of visual orientation in a gravity-based reference frame

Abstract

The brain can use multiple reference frames to code line orientation, including head-, object-, and gravity-centered references. If these frames change orientation, their representations must be updated to keep register with actual line orientation. We tested this internal updating during head rotation in roll, exploiting the rod-and-frame effect: The illusory tilt of a vertical line surrounded by a tilted visual frame. If line orientation is stored relative to gravity, these distortions should also affect the updating process. Alternatively, if coding is head- or frame-centered, updating errors should be related to the changes in their orientation. Ten subjects were instructed to memorize the orientation of a briefly flashed line, surrounded by a tilted visual frame, then rotate their head, and subsequently judge the orientation of a second line relative to the memorized first while the frame was upright. Results showed that updating errors were mostly related to the amount of subjective distortion of gravity at both the initial and final head orientation, rather than to the amount of intervening head rotation. In some subjects, a smaller part of the updating error was also related to the change of visual frame orientation. We conclude that the brain relies primarily on a gravity-based reference to remember line orientation during head roll.

Psychophysical evidence for the involvement of head/body-centered reference frames in egocentric visuospatial memory: A whole-body roll tilt paradigm

“…These results indicate that the eye-centered reference frame, which would be less influenced by the head/body tilt, could also be involved in storing egocentric visuospatial information. Indeed, previous neurophysiological and psychophysical studies have shown that visuospatial information is encoded and stored not in a single reference frame, but in parallel in multiple reference frames ( Tramper & Medendorp, 2015 ; Niehof, Tramper, J. J., Doeller, C. F., & Medendorp, 2017 ; Mullette-Gillman, Cohen, & Groh, 2005 ; Mullette-Gillman, Cohen, & Groh, 2009 ; Caruso, Pages, Sommer, & Groh, 2021 ). Tramper & Medendorp (2015) showed that the bias in a reproduced world-fixed target location (not body-fixed as in the present study) caused by intervening whole-body translation was better explained by a model in which the eye-centered and head/body-centered reference frames were combined than by a model in which each reference frame was used alone.…”

Psychophysical evidence for the involvement of head/body-centered reference frames in egocentric visuospatial memory: A whole-body roll tilt paradigm

“…These results indicate that the eye-centered reference frame, which would be less influenced by the head/body tilt, could also be involved in storing egocentric visuospatial information. Indeed, previous neurophysiological and psychophysical studies have shown that visuospatial information is encoded and stored not in a single reference frame, but in parallel in multiple reference frames (Tramper & Medendorp, 2015;Niehof et al, 2017;Mullette-Gillman et al, 2005Caruso et al, 2021). Tramper & Medendorp (2015) showed that the bias in a reproduced world-fixed target location (not body-fixed as in the present study) caused by intervening whole-body translation was better explained by a model in which the eye-centered and head/body-centered reference frames were combined than by a model in which each reference frame was used alone.…”

Vestibular Responses to Gravity Alterations

“…Gravity is known as a critical factor to affect the function of cognition as well as behaviors [1][2][3]. The altered gravity was mainly detected in the peripheral vestibular system, especially otolith, and the corresponding neural information is sent to the central nervous system [4,5].…”