Abstract
The role of gravity in spatial coordinate assignment and the mental representation of space were studied in three experiments, varying different perceptual cues systematically: the retinal, the visual background, the vestibular, and proprioceptive information. Verbal descriptions of visually presented arrays were required under different head positions (straight/tilt) and under different gravitational conditions (gravity present/gravity absent). The results of two experiments conducted with 2 subjects who participated in a space flight revealed that subjects are able to adequately assign positions in space in the absence of gravitational information, and that they do this by using their head-retinal coordinates as primary references. This indicates that they cognitively adapted to the perceptually new situation.The findings from a third experiment conducted with a larger group of subjects under a condition in which the gravitational information was present but irrelevant to the task being solved (subjects were in a-horizontal supine-position) show that subjects, in general, are flexible in using cues other than gravitational ones as references when the latter cannot serve as a referential system. These findings, together with the observation that consistent spatial assignment is possible even immediately after first exposure to the perceptually totally novel situation of weightlessness, seem to suggest that the mental representation of space, onto which given perceptual information is mapped, is independent of a particular percept.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Attneave, F., &Olson, R. K. (1967). Discriminability of stimuli varying in physical and retinal orientation.Journal of Experimental Psychology,74, 149–157.
Aubert, H. (1861). Übereine scheinbare Drehung von Objekten bei Neigung des Kopfes nach rechts oder links.Virchows Archiv,20, 381–393.
Baumoarten, R. von, Benson, A., Berthoz, A., Bles, W., Brandt, T., Brenske, A., Clark, A., Dichgans, J., Eggerts-berger, R., Jürgens, K., Kass, J., Krafczky, S., Probst, T., Scherer, H., Thümler, R., Vieville, T., Vogel, H., &Wetzig, J. (1987). European experiments on the vestibular system during the Spacelab D-1 Mission. In P. R. Sahm, R. Jansen, & M. H. Keller (Eds.),Scientific results of the German Spacelab Mission D-1 (pp. 518–524). Köln: Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt.
Bischof, N., &Scheerer, E. (1970). Systemanalyse der optischvestibulären Interaktion tel der Wahrnehmung der Vertikalen.Psychologische Forschung,34, 99–181.
Bridgeman, B., Lewts, S., Heit, G., &Nagle, M. (1979). Relation between cognitive and motor-oriented systems of visual position perception.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,5, 692–700.
Corballis, M. C., Anuza, T., &Blake, L. (1978). Tachistoscopic perception under head tilt.Perception & Psychophysics,24, 274–284.
Corballis, M. C., Nagoury, B. A., Shetzer, L. I., &Stefanatos, G. (1978). Mental rotation under head tilt: Factors influencing the location of the subjective reference frame.Perception & Psychophysics,24, 263–273.
Dichgans, J., Held, R., Young, L., &Brandt, T. (1972). Moving visual scenes influence the apparent direction of gravity.Science,178, 1217–1219.
Ebenholtz, S. M. (1977). Determinants of the rod and frame effect: The role of retinal size.Perception & Psychophysics,22, 531–538.
Friederici, A. D. (1989a). Raumreferenz unter extremen perzeptueilen Bedingungen: Perzeption, Repräsentation und sprachliche Abbildung. In C. Habel, M. Herweg, & K. Rehkämper (Eds.),Raumkonzepte in Verstehensprozessen (pp. 17–36). Tübmgen: Niemeyer.
Friederici, A. D. (1989b, September/October).Spatial assignment in extreme perceptual conditions: Mechanisms of human adaptation. Paper presented at the 8th International Academy of Astronautics’ Man in Space Symposium, Tashkent, USSR.
Friederici, A. D., &Levelt, W. J. M. (1986). Cognitive processes of spatial coordinate assignment: On weighting perceptual cues.Natur-wissenschaften,73, 455–458.
Friederici, A. D., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1987, September). Resolving perceptual conflicts: The cognitive mechanism of spatial orientation.Aviation, Space, & Environmental Medicine, pp. A164-A169.
Graybiel, A., Miller, E. F. II,Bilungham, J., Waite, R., Berry, C. A., &Dietlein, L. F. (1967). Vestibular experiments in Gemini flights V and VII.Aerospace Medicine,38, 360–370.
Kohler, J. (1955). Die Methode des Brillenversuchs in der Wahrnehmungspsychologie mit Bemerkungen zur Lehre von der Adaption.Zeitschrzft für Experimentelle Angewandte Psychologie,3, 381–417.
Kosslyn, S. M., &Shwartz, S. P. (1978). Visual images as spatial representations in active memory. In E. M. Riseman & A. R. Hanson (Eds.),Computer vision. New York: Academic Press.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1984). Some perceptual limitations in talking about space. In A. J. Van der Grind & J. J. Koenderink (Eds.),Limits in perception (pp. 323–358). Utrecht: VNU Science Press.
Mauritz, K. H., Dichgans, J., &Hufschmidt, A. (1977). The angle of visual roll motion determines displacement of subjective visual vertical.Perception & Psychophysics,22, 557–562.
Melvill-Jones, G., &Berthoz, A. (1985). Mental control of the adaptive process. In A. Berthoz & G. Melvill-Jones (Eds.),Adaptive mechanisms in gaze control: Facts and theories (pp. 203–208). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Mittelstaedt, H. (1983). A new solution to the problem of subjective vertical.Naturwissenschaften,70, 272–281.
Mittelstaedt, H. (1987). Inflight and postflight results on the causation of inversion illusions and space sickness. In P. R. Sahm, R. Jansen,& M. H. Keller (Eds.),Scientific results of the German Spacelab Mission D-1 (pp. 525–536). Köln: Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt.
Müller, G. E. (1916). Überdas Aubertsche Phänomenon.Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane,49, 109–246.
Parker, D. E., Poston, R. L., &Gulledge, W. L. (1983). Spatial orientation: Visual-vestibular-somatic interaction.Perception & Psychophysics,33, 139–146.
Pinker, S. (1980). Mental imagery and the third dimension.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,109, 354–371.
Pinker, S., &Kosslyn, S. M. (1978). The representation and manipulation of three-dimensional space in mental images.Journal of Mental Imagery,2, 69–84.
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1973). What the mind’s eye tells the mind’s brain: A critique of mental imagery.Psychological Bulletin,80, 1–24.
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1980). Computation and cognition: Issues in the foundations of cognitive science.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,3, 111–132.
Rock, I. (1956). The orientation of forms on the retina and in the environment.American Journal of Psychology,69, 513–528.
Rock, I. (1973).Orientation and form. New York: Academic Press.
Shepard, R. N., &Hurwitz, S. (1984). Upward direction, mental rotation, and discrimination of left and right turns in maps.Cognition,18, 161–194.
Templeton, W. B. (1973). The role of gravitational cues in the judgment of visual orientation.Perception & Psychophysics,14, 451–457.
von Holst, E. (1950). Die Arbeitsweise des Statolithenapparates bei Fischen.Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Physiologie,32, 60–120.
Witkin, H. A., &Asch, S. L. (1948). Studies in space orientation: IV. Further experiments on perception of the upright with displayed visual fields.Journal of Experimental Psychology,38, 762–782.
Young, L. R., Oman, C. M., Kenyon, R. V., &Arrott, A. P. (1986). Sensory adaptation to weightlessness and readaptation to one-g: An overview.Experimental Brain Research,64, 291–298.
Young, L. R., Oman, C. M., Watt, D. G. D., Money, K. E., &Lichtenberg, B. K. (1984). Spatial orientation in weightlessness and readaption to earth’s gravity.Science,225, 205–208.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The research reported here was supported by the German Max-Planck-Geseilschaft and the Bundesministerium für Forschungund Technologie. A preliminary report on part of the data of Experiments 1 and 2 was given in Friederici and Levelt(1986, 1987). The present paper was written while the first author was holding a Heisenberg Fellowship awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Friederici, A.D., Levelt, W.J.M. Spatial reference in weightlessness: Perceptual factors and mental representations. Perception & Psychophysics 47, 253–266 (1990). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205000
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205000