title: Vestibular cognition: the effect of prior belief on vestibular perceptual decision making.
abstract: Vestibular cognition is a growing field of interest and relatively little is known about the underlying mechanisms. We tested the effect of prior beliefs about the relative probability (50:50 vs. 80:20) of motion direction (yaw rotation) using a direction discrimination task. We analyzed choices individually with a logistic regression model and together with response times using a cognitive process model. The results show that self-motion perception is altered by prior belief, leading to a shift of the psychometric function, without a loss of sensitivity. Hierarchical drift diffusion analysis showed that at the group level, prior belief manifests itself as an offset to the drift criterion. However, individual model fits revealed that participants vary in how they use cognitive information in perceptual decision making. At the individual level, the response bias induced by a prior belief resulted either in a change in starting point (prior to evidence accumulation) or drift rate (during evidence accumulation). Participants incorporate prior belief in a self-motion discrimination task, albeit in different ways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012, Bern, Switzerland. andrew.ellis@psy.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Andrew W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Manuel P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Klaus
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fred W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Mast
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D015982:Bias; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D012399:Rotation; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anticipation; Bias; Direction recognition; Drift diffusion model; Expectation; Perceptual decision making; Vestibular cognition