JN Add DOIs to your references at manuscript stage!
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


J Neurophysiol (April 16, 2008). doi:10.1152/jn.01012.2007
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
100/1/140    most recent
01012.2007v1
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 PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lewis, R. F
Right arrow Articles by Merfeld, D. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lewis, R. F
Right arrow Articles by Merfeld, D. M.
Submitted on September 11, 2007
Accepted on April 11, 2008

Roll Tilt Psychophysics in Rhesus Monkeys During Vestibular and Visual Stimulation

Richard F Lewis1*, Csilla Haburcakova1, and Daniel M. Merfeld1

1 Otolaryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: richard_lewis{at}meei.harvard.edu.

How does the brain calculate the spatial orientation of the head relative to gravity? Psychophysical measurements are critical to investigate this question, but such measurements have been limited to humans. In non-human primates, behavioral measures have focused on vestibular-mediated eye movements, which do not reflect percepts of head orientation. We have therefore developed a method to measure tilt perception in monkeys, derived from the subjective visual vertical (SVV) task. Two rhesus monkeys were trained to align a light bar parallel to gravity, and performed this task during roll tilts, inter-aural translation, centrifugation, and roll optokinetic stimulation. The monkeys accurately aligned the light bar with gravity during static roll tilts, but also demonstrated small orientation-dependent misperceptions of the tilt angle analogous to those measured in humans. When the gravito-inertial force (GIF) rotated dynamically in the roll plane, SVV responses remained closely aligned with the GIF during roll tilt of the head (coplanar canal rotational cues present), lagged slightly behind the GIF during variable-radius centrifugation (no canal cues present), and shifted gradually during fixed-radius centrifugation (orthogonal yaw canal cues present). SVV responses also deviated away from the earth-vertical during roll optokinetic stimulation. These results demonstrate that rotational cues derived from the semicircular canals and visual system have prominent effects on psychophysical measurements of roll tilt in rhesus monkeys, and therefore suggest that a central synthesis of graviceptive and rotational cues contributes to percepts of head orientation relative to gravity in non-human primates.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
J. Neurophysiol.Home page
A. A. Rader, C. M. Oman, and D. M. Merfeld
Motion Perception During Variable-Radius Swing Motion in Darkness
J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2009; 102(4): 2232 - 2244.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
J. Neurosci.Home page
T. Yakusheva, P. M. Blazquez, and D. E. Angelaki
Frequency-Selective Coding of Translation and Tilt in Macaque Cerebellar Nodulus and Uvula
J. Neurosci., October 1, 2008; 28(40): 9997 - 10009.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]




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