Authors
Iole Indovina, Vincenzo Maffei, Gianfranco Bosco, Myrka Zago, Emiliano Macaluso, Francesco Lacquaniti
Publication date
2005/4/15
Journal
Science
Volume
308
Issue
5720
Pages
416-419
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Description
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.
Total citations
2005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202481116171915231415232123231819182415169
Scholar articles