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Spontaneous postural sway predicts the strength of smooth vection

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Abstract

This study asked whether individual differences in the influence of vision on postural stability could be used to predict the strength of subsequently induced visual illusions of self-motion (vection). In the experiment, we first measured spontaneous postural sway while subjects stood erect for 60 s with their eyes both open and both closed. We then showed our subjects two types of self-motion display: radially expanding optic flow (simulating constant velocity forwards self-motion) and vertically oscillating radially expanding optic flow (simulating constant velocity forwards self-motion combined with vertical head oscillation). As expected, subjects swayed more with their eyes closed (compared to open) and experienced more compelling illusions of self-motion with vertically oscillating (as opposed to smooth) radial flow. The extent to which participants relied on vision for postural stability—measured as the ratio of sway with eyes closed compared to that with eyes open—was found to predict vection strength. However, this was only the case for displays representing smooth self-motion. It seems that for oscillating displays, other factors, such as visual–vestibular interactions, may be more important.

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Notes

  1. Simultaneous measurement of vection and sway runs the risk that act of making the vection rating (whether it be verbal, button or joystick based) might introduce artefactual postural responses. In any event, there is a phase lag between the onset of visually induced postural sway and the subsequently reported onset of vection (see Kuno et al. 1999).

  2. It should be noted that while these simulations were consistent with a 6 m/s forward self-motion through an environment that was 15 m wide × 15 m high × 40 m deep, they were also consistent with an unlimited number of other velocity/size combinations.

  3. Spearman’s rho is robust to the influence of outliers, as it limits the contribution of each outlier simply to the value of its rank.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant to SP (DP0772398).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Stephen Palmisano

  2. Research School of Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Deborah Apthorp

  3. Institute for Advanced Study, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Takeharu Seno

  4. School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Paul J. Stapley

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  1. Stephen Palmisano
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  2. Deborah Apthorp
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  3. Takeharu Seno
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  4. Paul J. Stapley
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Correspondence to Stephen Palmisano.

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Palmisano, S., Apthorp, D., Seno, T. et al. Spontaneous postural sway predicts the strength of smooth vection. Exp Brain Res 232, 1185–1191 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3835-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3835-y

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