Summary: REVIEW ARTICLE
Visual­vestibular cue integration for heading perception:
applications of optimal cue integration theory
Christopher R. Fetsch,1
Gregory C. DeAngelis2,
* and Dora E. Angelaki1,
*
1
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave., Box 8108, St. Louis,
MO 63110, USA
2
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
Keywords: human, macaque, psychophysics, vestibular, visual
Abstract
The perception of self-motion is crucial for navigation, spatial orientation and motor control. In particular, estimation of one's
direction of translation, or heading, relies heavily on multisensory integration in most natural situations. Visual and nonvisual (e.g.,
vestibular) information can be used to judge heading, but each modality alone is often insufficient for accurate performance. It is
not surprising, then, that visual and vestibular signals converge frequently in the nervous system, and that these signals interact in
powerful ways at the level of behavior and perception. Early behavioral studies of visual­vestibular interactions consisted mainly of
descriptive accounts of perceptual illusions and qualitative estimation tasks, often with conflicting results. In contrast, cue

Source: Angelaki, Dora - Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University in St. Louis

Collections: Biology and Medicine