Journal
NEUROREPORT
Volume 20, Issue 5, Pages 457-461Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e328326f815
Keywords
gravity; human visual perception; mental representation; visual illusions
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Funding
- CHU Purpan
- CNRS
- CNES
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In previous studies, we had observed that the occurrence of geometric illusions was reduced when healthy observers were tilted relative to gravity or placed in microgravity. We hypothesized that the alteration of the gravitational (otolith) input was responsible for this change, presumably because of a connection between vestibular and visual-spatial cognitive functions. In this study, we repeated these experiments in vestibular patients who presented signs of otolith disorders. In agreement with the microgravity data, geometric illusions based on horizontal, vertical, and oblique lines were less frequent in patients with otolithic (nonrotatory) vertigo than in patients with rotatory vertigo and in healthy participants. Other visual illusions not based on perspective were not significantly different across all participant groups. We conclude that the impairment in the processing of gravitational input in the otolithic patients could be at the origin of a deformed mental representation of personal and extrapersonal space. NeuroReport 20:457-461 (C) 2009 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
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