JN Watch the video to learn how APS reaches out to developing nations.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


J Neurophysiol (March 12, 2008). doi:10.1152/jn.00931.2007
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Figures
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
99/5/2558    most recent
00931.2007v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ruiz-Ruiz, M.
Right arrow Articles by Martinez-Trujillo, J. C
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ruiz-Ruiz, M.
Right arrow Articles by Martinez-Trujillo, J. C
Submitted on August 17, 2007
Accepted on March 9, 2008

Human updating of visual motion direction during head rotations

Mario Ruiz-Ruiz1 and Julio C Martinez-Trujillo1*

1 Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: julio.martinez{at}mcgill.ca.

Previous studies have demonstrated that human subjects update the location of visual targets for saccades after head and body movements and in the absence of visual feedback. This phenomenon is known as spatial updating. Here we investigated whether a similar mechanism exists for the perception of motion direction. We recorded eye positions in three dimensions and behavioral responses in seven subjects during a motion task in two different conditions: when the subjects head remained stationary, and when subjects rotated their heads around an antero-posterior axis (head tilt). We demonstrated that a) after head tilt subjects updated the direction of saccades made in the perceived stimulus direction (direction of motion updating), b) the amount of updating varied across subjects and stimulus directions, c) the amount of motion direction updating was highly correlated with the amount of spatial updating during a memory guided saccade task, d) subjects updated the stimulus direction during a two-alternative-forced-choice direction discrimination task in the absence of saccadic eye movements (perceptual updating), e) perceptual updating was more accurate than motion direction updating involving saccades, and f) subjects updated motion direction similarly during active and passive head rotation. These results demonstrate the existence of an updating mechanism for the perception of motion direction in the human brain that operates during active and passive head rotations and that resembles the one of spatial updating. Such a mechanism operates during different tasks involving different motor and perceptual skills (saccade and motion direction discrimination) with different degrees of accuracy.







HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Visit Other APS Journals Online
Copyright © 2008 by the The American Physiological Society.