Cognitive Influences on Self-Rotation Perception

In this study we examined the types of information that can influence the perception of upright (yaw) rotations. Specifically, we examined the influence of stimulus magnitude, task-induced attention and awareness of intersensory conflicts on the weights of visual and body cues. Participants had to reproduce rotations that were presented as simultaneous physical body turns (via a motion platform) and visual turns displayed as a rotating scene. During the active reproduction stage, conflicts between the body and visual rotations were introduced by means of gain factors. Participants were instructed to reproduce either the visual scene rotation or the body rotation. After each trial participants reported whether or not they had perceived a conflict. We found significant influences of the magnitude of the rotation, attention condition (instruction to reproduce platform or scene rotation), and reported awareness of a sensory conflict during the reproduction phase. Attention had a larger influence on the response of the participants when they noticed a conflict compared to when they did not perceive a conflict. Attention biased their response towards the attended modality. Our results suggest that not only the stimulus characteristics, but also cognitive factors play a role in the estimation of the size of a rotation in an active turn reproduction task.