The Effects of Gravity on Self-Motion Perception

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dc.contributor.advisorAllison, Robert
dc.creatorGuterman, Pearl Shaina
dc.date.accessioned2016-11-25T13:59:28Z
dc.date.available2016-11-25T13:59:28Z
dc.date.copyright2016-06-02
dc.date.issued2016-11-25
dc.date.updated2016-11-25T13:59:28Z
dc.degree.disciplinePsychology (Functional Area: Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Science
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractGravity is the most pervasive force that we encounter. For instance, we observe a variety of objects being accelerated toward the Earth by gravity, but we also experience these forces when we are simply stationaryas gravity is a constant accelerationor when we are ourselves in motion, such as when we are locomoting on foot, driving a vehicle, jumping or skiing. It follows that our ability to successfully navigate our environment must somehow take into account the effects of gravity on our body's motion-detecting sensesa dynamic relationship which changes with self-motion and self-orientation. The goal of this dissertation was to investigate how body orientation relative to gravity influences visual-vestibular interactions in visually-induced perception of self-motion (i.e., vection). Specifically, I examined this relationship by placing observers in varied postures and presenting visual displays simulating forward/backward self-motion with vertical/horizontal viewpoint oscillation, that mimics components produced by head-movements in real self-motion. I found that tilting observers reduced vection and the two viewpoint oscillations similarly enhanced vection, suggesting that current postural and oscillation-based vection findings are best explained by ecology. I also examined the influence of scene structure and alignment of the body and visual motion relative to gravity on vection. Observers in different postures viewed simulated translational self-motion displays consisting of either a single rigid structure or dots. The experimental data showed that vection depended on both posture and the perceived interpretation of the visual scene, indicating that self-motion perception is modulated by high-order cognitive processes. I also found that observers reported illusory tilt of the stimulus when they were not upright. I investigated these observer reports of a posture-dependent perceived stimulus tilt by presenting upright and tilted observers with static and motion stimuli that were tilted from the graviational vertical. Postural-dependent tilt effects were found for both these stimuli and were greater for motion experienced as self-motion than external motion. Taken together, the results of this dissertation demonstrate that our perception of self-motion is influenced by gravity, and by prior experiences and internal mental representations of our visual world.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/32680
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectPhysiological psychology
dc.subject.keywordsSelf-motion perception
dc.subject.keywordsVection
dc.subject.keywordsMultisensory
dc.subject.keywordsGravity
dc.subject.keywordsBody orientation
dc.titleThe Effects of Gravity on Self-Motion Perception
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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