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Self-motion perception training: thresholds improve in the light but not in the dark

Experimental Brain Research volume 226, pages 231–240 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

We investigated perceptual learning in self-motion perception. Blindfolded participants were displaced leftward or rightward by means of a motion platform and asked to indicate the direction of motion. A total of eleven participants underwent 3,360 practice trials, distributed over twelve (Experiment 1) or 6 days (Experiment 2). We found no improvement in motion discrimination in both experiments. These results are surprising since perceptual learning has been demonstrated for visual, auditory, and somatosensory discrimination. Improvements in the same task were found when visual input was provided (Experiment 3). The multisensory nature of vestibular information is discussed as a possible explanation of the absence of perceptual learning in darkness.

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Notes

  1. The perception of passive whole-body motion is based on visual, auditory, vestibular, somatosensory, proprioceptive, and viscerosceptive signals. In the present study, participants were displaced in darkness and exposed to white noise. Therefore, we regard vestibular signals as the main source of self-motion information (see also Benson et al. 1986; Bertolini et al. 2012; Kingma 2005; Valko et al. 2012).

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Pro*Doc grant PDFMP1_127238 and Sinergia grant CRSII1-125135/1). We thank Cora Bobst, Wilhelm Klatt, and Antje Stahnke for assistance in data collection.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Muesmattstrasse 45, 3000, Bern, Switzerland

    Matthias Hartmann, Sarah Furrer & Fred W. Mast

  2. Center for Cognition, Learning and Memory, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Matthias Hartmann & Fred W. Mast

  3. Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Michael H. Herzog

  4. Jenks Vestibular Physiology Laboratory, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA, USA

    Daniel M. Merfeld

  5. Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Daniel M. Merfeld

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  1. Matthias Hartmann
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  2. Sarah Furrer
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  3. Michael H. Herzog
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  4. Daniel M. Merfeld
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  5. Fred W. Mast
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Correspondence to Matthias Hartmann.

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Hartmann, M., Furrer, S., Herzog, M.H. et al. Self-motion perception training: thresholds improve in the light but not in the dark. Exp Brain Res 226, 231–240 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3428-1

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Keywords

  • Self-motion thresholds
  • Whole-body motion
  • Perceptual learning
  • Vestibular thresholds
  • Vestibular learning