Background: Recent theories suggest that perception of complex self-motion is governed by familiarity of the motion pattern as a whole in 3D.
Objective: To explore how familiarity determines the perceived angular displacement with respect to the Earth during a simulated coordinated turn in a gondola centrifuge.
Method: The centrifuge was accelerated to 2G (gondola displacement 60°) within 12.5 s. Using visual indicators in darkness, responses to the gondola displacement were recorded with subjects (n = 10) in two positions: sitting-upright, facing-forward versus lying-supine, feet-forwards. Each subject underwent 2×2 6-minute runs.
Result: When upright, subjects indicated a tilt of initially 18.8±11.3°, declining with T = 66±37 s. In the supine position (subject's yaw plane coinciding with the plane of gondola displacement) the indicated displacement was negligible (-0.3±4.8°).
Conclusion: Since the canal system is most responsive to stimuli in yaw, these findings are difficult to explain by bottom-up models. Rather, the motion pattern during acceleration would be recognized as a familiar or meaningful whole (entering a co-ordinated turn) only when the subject is upright. Presumably, the degree of familiarity is reflected in the subject's ability to discern and estimate a single stimulus component. Findings are discussed in connection with human factors in aviation and the principles of Gestalt psychology.
Keywords: Gestalt psychology; Vestibular system; pattern recognition; self-motion perception; spatial disorientation; subjective horizontal; subjective vertical; top-down processing.