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Science 15 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5720, pp. 416 - 419
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107961
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Reports

Representation of Visual Gravitational Motion in the Human Vestibular Cortex

Iole Indovina,1,2 Vincenzo Maffei,1 Gianfranco Bosco,3 Myrka Zago,1 Emiliano Macaluso,2 Francesco Lacquaniti1,3,4*

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.

1 Department of Neuromotor Physiology, Scientific Institute Foundation Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00179 Rome, Italy.
2 Department of Neuroimaging, Scientific Institute Foundation Santa Lucia, via Ardeatina 306, 00179 Rome, Italy.
3 Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
4 Center of Space Biomedicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via O. Raimondo 8, 00173 Rome, Italy.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lacquaniti{at}caspur.it

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Neural Correlates of Visually Induced Self-Motion Illusion in Depth.
G. Kovacs, M. Raabe, and M. W. Greenlee (2008)
Cereb Cortex 18, 1779-1787
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Vestibular Nuclei and Cerebellum Put Visual Gravitational Motion in Context.
W. L. Miller, V. Maffei, G. Bosco, M. Iosa, M. Zago, E. Macaluso, and F. Lacquaniti (2008)
J Neurophysiol 99, 1969-1982
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Anticipating the Effects of Gravity When Intercepting Moving Objects: Differentiating Up and Down Based on Nonvisual Cues.
P. Senot, M. Zago, F. Lacquaniti, and J. McIntyre (2005)
J Neurophysiol 94, 4471-4480
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Internal Model of Gravity for Hand Interception: Parametric Adaptation to Zero-Gravity Visual Targets on Earth.
M. Zago and F. Lacquaniti (2005)
J Neurophysiol 94, 1346-1357
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)