Visual motion stimulation, but not visually induced perception of self-motion, biases the perceived direction of verticality

Large-field torsional optokinetic stimulation is known to affect the perceived direction of gravity with verticality judgements deviating towards the direction of visual stimulus rotation. The present study aimed to replicate this effect and to examine it further by subjecting participants to optokinetic stimulation in roll, resulting in spontaneous alternations between the perception of object-motion and that of contradirectional self-motion (vection), as reported by the subjects. Simultaneously, subjects were oscillated laterally in a flight simulator and indicated their perception of postural verticality. Results confirmed that rotation of the visual environment in the frontal plane biases the perceived orientation of gravity towards the direction of visual stimulus motion. However, no differential effect of perceptual state on postural verticality was obtained when contrasting verticality judgements made during the perception of object-motion with those obtained during reported self-motion perception. This finding is likely to reflect a functional segregation of central nervous visual-vestibular subsystems that process the perception of self-tilt and that of self-rotation to some degree independently. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.