TY - JOUR
T1 - Representation of visual gravitational motion in the human vestibular cortex
AU - Indovina, Iole
AU - Maffei, Vincenzo
AU - Bosco, Gianfranco
AU - Zago, Myrka
AU - Macaluso, Emiliano
AU - Lacquaniti, Francesco
PY - 2005/4/15
Y1 - 2005/4/15
N2 - How do we perceive the visual motion of objects that are accelerated by gravity? We propose that, because vision is poorly sensitive to accelerations, an internal model that calculates the effects of gravity is derived from graviceptive information, is stored in the vestibular cortex, and is activated by visual motion that appears to be coherent with natural gravity. The acceleration of visual targets was manipulated while brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In agreement with the internal model hypothesis, we found that the vestibular network was selectively engaged when acceleration was consistent with natural gravity. These findings demonstrate that predictive mechanisms of physical laws of motion are represented in the human brain.
AB - How do we perceive the visual motion of objects that are accelerated by gravity? We propose that, because vision is poorly sensitive to accelerations, an internal model that calculates the effects of gravity is derived from graviceptive information, is stored in the vestibular cortex, and is activated by visual motion that appears to be coherent with natural gravity. The acceleration of visual targets was manipulated while brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In agreement with the internal model hypothesis, we found that the vestibular network was selectively engaged when acceleration was consistent with natural gravity. These findings demonstrate that predictive mechanisms of physical laws of motion are represented in the human brain.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.1107961
DO - 10.1126/science.1107961
M3 - Article
C2 - 15831760
AN - SCOPUS:17244373106
VL - 308
SP - 416
EP - 419
JO - Science
JF - Science
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 5720
ER -