The use of visual cues for spatial orientation in the sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa)

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Zuri ◽  
C.M. Bull
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Tiliqua Rugosa

The use of visual cues for spatial orientation in the sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa)

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Zuri ◽  
C M Bull
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Tiliqua Rugosa ◽  
Different Shapes

The sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) is a large, long-lived terrestrial Australian skink. In the present study we investigated the ability of sleepy lizards to use different visual cues for spatial orientation. The lizards were trained to locate shelters in certain places and then trained to certain signals associated with their shelters. In the absence of surrounding visual cues the lizards preferred familiar sites that were previously associated with their shelters. However, when presented with signals that had been associated with their shelters, they chose the vicinity of these familiar signals, even after their displacement to new sites. The lizards discriminated between black and white signals and between triangular and circular signals but not between red and green signals. Previous studies had shown that sleepy lizards exhibit home-range fidelity, raising the question of which environmental cues are important for them for spatial orientation within their home ranges. We suggest that the ability of sleepy lizards to discriminate between visual signals of different shapes and degrees of brightness enables them to "memorize" certain fixed landmarks in their large home ranges and to orient accordingly.

scholarly journals Different Visual Weighting due to Fast or Slow Vestibular Deafferentation: Before and after Schwannoma Surgery

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Tjernström ◽  
Per-Anders Fransson ◽  
Babar Kahlon ◽  
Mikael Karlberg ◽  
Sven Lindberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Postural Control ◽  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Vestibular Function ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Vestibular Loss ◽  
Group 3 ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Group 1

Background. Feedback postural control depends upon information from somatosensation, vision, and the vestibular system that are weighted depending on their relative importance within the central nervous system. Following loss of any sensory component, the weighting changes, e.g., when suffering a vestibular loss, the most common notion is that patients become more dependent on visual cues for maintaining postural control. Dizziness and disequilibrium are common after surgery in schwannoma patients, which could be due to interpretation of the remaining sensory systems involved in feedback-dependent postural control and spatial orientation. Objective. To compare visual dependency in spatial orientation and postural control in patients suffering from unilateral vestibular loss within different time frames. Methods. Patients scheduled for schwannoma surgery: group 1 (n=27) with no vestibular function prior to surgery (lost through years), group 2 (n=12) with remaining vestibular function at the time of surgery (fast deafferentation), and group 3 (n=18) with remaining function that was lost through gentamicin installations in the middle ear (slow deafferentation). All patients performed vibratory posturography and rod and frame investigation before surgery and 6 months after surgery. Results. Postural control improved after surgery in patients that suffered a slow deafferentation (groups 1 and 3) (p<0.001). Patients that suffered fast loss of remaining vestibular function (group 2) became less visual field dependent after surgery (p≤0.035) and were less able to maintain stability compared with group 1 (p=0.010) and group 3 (p=0.010). Conclusions. The nature and time course of vestibular deafferentation influence the weighting of remaining sensory systems in order to maintain postural control and spatial orientation.

Increasing Altitude and the Optokinetic Cervical Reflex

2021 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 319-325
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Stewart ◽  
Sravan Pingali ◽  
David G. Newman
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Head Tilt ◽  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Bank Angle ◽  
Environment Changes ◽  
Post Hoc

INTRODUCTION: When an aircraft banks pilots will reflexively tilt their heads in the opposite direction, known as the optokinetic cervical reflex (OKCR). This is elicited by the appearance of the horizon and is an attempt to keep the moving horizon stable on the pilots retina to help maintain spatial orientation. The appearance of the horizon and the visual environment changes at higher altitudes and there is little research studying the effects of this. Our hypothesis was that increasing altitude would alter the visual cues present and decrease the OKCR.METHODS: There were 16 subjects who flew two flights in a flight simulator while their head tilt, aircraft altitude, and angle of aircraft bank were recorded. The flights were at an altitude of under 1500 ft above ground and above 15,000 ft above ground.RESULTS: Aircraft bank caused head tilt in the opposite direction at both altitudes. A two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests showed that 86% of aircraft bank angles from 0 to 90 in either direction had a head tilt that was statistically significantly smaller at high altitude.DISCUSSION: This study shows that there appears to be a difference between the OKCR at low and high altitude. Pilots at higher altitude seem to exhibit a smaller head tilt for the same aircraft bank angle. More research is required to fully understand why there is a decrease in the OKCR at high altitude, as well as the actual consequences of the decreased reflex on pilot orientation.Stewart MA, Pingali S, Newman DG. Increasing altitude and the optokinetic cervical reflex. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(5):319325.

scholarly journals Multisensory contribution in visuospatial orientation: an interaction between neck and trunk proprioception

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason McCarthy ◽  
Patricia Castro ◽  
Rachael Cottier ◽  
Joseph Buttell ◽  
Qadeer Arshad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Body Position ◽  
The Body ◽  
Visual Inputs ◽  
Visual Vertical ◽  
The Right ◽  
Trunk Position ◽  
The Brain

AbstractA coherent perception of spatial orientation is key in maintaining postural control. To achieve this the brain must access sensory inputs encoding both the body and the head position and integrate them with incoming visual information. Here we isolated the contribution of proprioception to verticality perception and further investigated whether changing the body position without moving the head can modulate visual dependence—the extent to which an individual relies on visual cues for spatial orientation. Spatial orientation was measured in ten healthy individuals [6 female; 25–47 years (SD 7.8 years)] using a virtual reality based subjective visual vertical (SVV) task. Individuals aligned an arrow to their perceived gravitational vertical, initially against a static black background (10 trials), and then in other conditions with clockwise and counterclockwise background rotations (each 10 trials). In all conditions, subjects were seated first in the upright position, then with trunk tilted 20° to the right, followed by 20° to the left while the head was always aligned vertically. The SVV error was modulated by the trunk position, and it was greater when the trunk was tilted to the left compared to right or upright trunk positions (p < 0.001). Likewise, background rotation had an effect on SVV errors as these were greater with counterclockwise visual rotation compared to static background and clockwise roll motion (p < 0.001). Our results show that the interaction between neck and trunk proprioception can modulate how visual inputs affect spatial orientation.

scholarly journals Spatial orientation based on multiple visual cues in non-migratory monarch butterflies

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (12) ◽  
pp. jeb223800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Franzke ◽  
Christian Kraus ◽  
David Dreyer ◽  
Keram Pfeiffer ◽  
M. Jerome Beetz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Monarch Butterflies

Tactile influences on astronaut visual spatial orientation: human neurovestibular studies on SLS-2

1996 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. R. Young ◽  
J. C. Mendoza ◽  
N. Groleau ◽  
P. W. Wojcik
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Internal Reference ◽  
Intrinsic Signals ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Induced Motion ◽  
Tactile Cues ◽  
Perceptual Styles ◽  
New Phenomena

Human spatial orientation in spaceflight is initially disturbed by the absence of usable graviceptor information from the otolithic organs. Experiments measuring astronaut visually induced motion (vection) strength on various flight days during the first 10 days of the Spacelab Life Sciences-2 mission demonstrated two new phenomena in addition to confirming the initial increased weighting of visual and localized tactile cues. The reliance on tactile and visual noninertial cues apparently declined after a week in space, as the crew became able to utilize their internal reference frame. Subjects also showed that even nondirectional tactile cues served as a direction anchor and inhibited visually induced roll sensation relative to a new loosely tethered test condition. Individual perceptual styles were again revealed among the four astronauts tested. The readaptation to 1 G similarly shows a period of reinterpretation of inertial and visual cues to spatial orientation. The results are discussed in terms of an internal-model representation of body orientation, with time-varying weights applied to extrinsic and intrinsic signals.

Judgments of Size and Distance with Imaging Displays

1984 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 617-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley N. Roscoe
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Investigation ◽  
Systematic Error ◽  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Systematic Errors ◽  
Optical Illusions ◽  
Flight Simulators ◽  
Visual Scenes ◽  
Distance Judgments

The application of computer-animated imagery analogous to a contact view from an air-plane calls for a better understanding of the essential visual cues for spatial orientation. Such systems have application both as contact analog flight displays and as outside visual scenes for flight simulators. In either case, systematic errors in distance judgments are encountered that can be compensated for by magnifying objects in the animated scenes. Results of an experimental investigation of biased distance judgments with a projection periscope accounted for, but did not explain, a portion of the systematic error. The findings are discussed in relation to other unexplained experimental facts associated with size and distance judgments, including various optical illusions and the “projection” of afterimages.

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