Role of gravitational versus egocentric cues for human spatial orientation

Abstract

Our perception of the vertical depends on allocentric information about the visual surrounds, egocentric information about the own body axis and gravicentric information about the pull of gravity. Previous work has documented that some individuals rely strongly on allocentric information, while others do not, and the present work scrutinizes the existence of yet another dichotomy: We hypothesize that in the absence of allocentric cues, some individuals rely strongly on gravicentric information, while others do not. Twenty-four participants were tested at three angles of body pitch (0° = upright, −90° = supine, −110° = head down) after eliminating visual orientation cues. When asked to adjust a rotating tree ‘…such that the tree looks right,’ nine persons set the tree consistently parallel to gravity, eight consistently parallel to their longitudinal axis and seven switched between these two references; responses mid-between gravity and body axis were rare. The outcome was similar when tactile cues were masked by body vibration, as well as when participants were asked to adjust the tree ‘… such that leaves are at the top and roots are at the bottom’; the incidence of gravicentric responses increased with the instruction to set the tree ‘… such that leaves are at the top and roots are at the bottom in space, irrespective of your own position.’ We conclude that the perceived vertical can be anchored in gravicentric or in egocentric space, depending on instructions and individual preference.