Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations

In this paper, we show that differences in reaction times (RT) to self-motion depend not only on the duration of the profile, but also on the actual time course of the acceleration. We previously proposed models that described direction discrimination thresholds for rotational and translational moti...

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Main Authors:	Soyka, Florian, Bülthoff, Heinrich H., Barnett-Cowan, Michael
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Springer-Verlag 2013
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677981/

id	pubmed-3677981
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-36779812013-06-11 Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations Soyka, Florian Bülthoff, Heinrich H. Barnett-Cowan, Michael Research Article In this paper, we show that differences in reaction times (RT) to self-motion depend not only on the duration of the profile, but also on the actual time course of the acceleration. We previously proposed models that described direction discrimination thresholds for rotational and translational motions based on the dynamics of the vestibular sensory organs (otoliths and semi-circular canals). As these models have the potential to describe RT for different motion profiles (e.g., trapezoidal versus triangular acceleration profiles or varying profile durations), we validated these models by measuring RTs in human observers for a direction discrimination task using both translational and rotational motions varying in amplitude, duration and acceleration profile shape in a within-subjects design. In agreement with previous studies, amplitude and duration were found to affect RT, and importantly, we found an influence of the profile shape on RT. The models are able to fit the measured RTs with an accuracy of around 5 ms, and the best-fitting parameters are similar to those found from identifying the models based on threshold measurements. This confirms the validity of the modeling approach and links perceptual thresholds to RT. By establishing a link between vestibular thresholds for self-motion and RT, we show for the first time that RTs to purely inertial motion stimuli can be used as an alternative to threshold measurements for identifying self-motion perception models. This is advantageous, since RT tasks are less challenging for participants and make assessment of vestibular function less fatiguing. Further, our results provide strong evidence that the perceived timing of self-motion stimulation is largely influenced by the response dynamics of the vestibular sensory organs. Springer-Verlag 2013-05-12 2013-07 /pmc/articles/PMC3677981/ /pubmed/23665749 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3536-y Text en © The Author(s) 2013 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Soyka, Florian Bülthoff, Heinrich H. Barnett-Cowan, Michael
spellingShingle	Soyka, Florian Bülthoff, Heinrich H. Barnett-Cowan, Michael Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations
author_facet	Soyka, Florian Bülthoff, Heinrich H. Barnett-Cowan, Michael
author_sort	Soyka, Florian
title	Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations
title_short	Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations
title_full	Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations
title_fullStr	Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations
title_full_unstemmed	Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations
title_sort	temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations
description	In this paper, we show that differences in reaction times (RT) to self-motion depend not only on the duration of the profile, but also on the actual time course of the acceleration. We previously proposed models that described direction discrimination thresholds for rotational and translational motions based on the dynamics of the vestibular sensory organs (otoliths and semi-circular canals). As these models have the potential to describe RT for different motion profiles (e.g., trapezoidal versus triangular acceleration profiles or varying profile durations), we validated these models by measuring RTs in human observers for a direction discrimination task using both translational and rotational motions varying in amplitude, duration and acceleration profile shape in a within-subjects design. In agreement with previous studies, amplitude and duration were found to affect RT, and importantly, we found an influence of the profile shape on RT. The models are able to fit the measured RTs with an accuracy of around 5 ms, and the best-fitting parameters are similar to those found from identifying the models based on threshold measurements. This confirms the validity of the modeling approach and links perceptual thresholds to RT. By establishing a link between vestibular thresholds for self-motion and RT, we show for the first time that RTs to purely inertial motion stimuli can be used as an alternative to threshold measurements for identifying self-motion perception models. This is advantageous, since RT tasks are less challenging for participants and make assessment of vestibular function less fatiguing. Further, our results provide strong evidence that the perceived timing of self-motion stimulation is largely influenced by the response dynamics of the vestibular sensory organs.
publisher	Springer-Verlag
publishDate	2013
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677981/
_version_	1611985081551814656

Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations

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