title: Sound-evoked vestibular stimulation affects the anticipation of gravity effects during visual self-motion.
abstract: Humans anticipate the effects of gravity during visually simulated self-motion in the vertical direction. Here we report that an artificial vestibular stimulation consisting of short-tone bursts (STB) suppresses this anticipation. Participants pressed a button upon entering a tunnel during virtual-reality roller coaster rides in downward or forward directions. In different trials, we delivered STB, pulsed white noise (WN), or no sound (NO). In the control conditions (WN, NO), participants responded earlier during downward than forward motion irrespective of true kinematics, consistent with the a priori expectation that downward but not forward motion is accelerated by gravity. STB canceled the difference in response timing between the two directions, without affecting overall task performance. Thus, we argue that vestibular signals play a role in the anticipation of visible gravity effects during self-motion.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179, Rome, Italy, i.indovina@hsantalucia.it.
authors.forename: Iole
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Indovina
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mazzarella
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Maffei
authors.forename: Benedetta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cesqui
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Passamonti
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lacquaniti
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006112:Gravitation; D006801:Humans; D007699:Kinesthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D058585:Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult