Mental rotation for spatial environment recognition.

We investigated the importance of retinal and body inclination in the recognition of spatial environment. The paradigm involved the recognition, in body upright and tilted conditions, of tilted images -intervals of 15 degrees from 0 degrees to 90 degrees leftward and rightward respective to head coordinates - of known spatial layouts encountered while walking in Paris. The analysis of reaction times was consistent with the subjects mentally rotating the spatial layout so that the environment was subjectively vertical before making their decisions. In contrast, when the body was roll-tilted (33 degrees ), overall reaction time was not affected; however, reaction time and spatial layout tilt with respect to the head were correlated when the body was tilted but not when upright. Both results indicate that gravity was slightly important in performing the task.

[1]  M. Tarr,et al.  Mental rotation and orientation-dependence in shape recognition , 1989, Cognitive Psychology.

[2]  L. Yardley.  Contribution of somatosensory information to perception of the visual vertical with body tilt and rotating visual field , 1990, Perception & psychophysics.

[3]  R. Shepard,et al.  Transformational studies of the internal representation of three-dimensional objects. , 1974 .

[4]  Horst Mittelstaedt,et al.  The role of the otoliths in the perception of the orientation of self and world to the vertical , 1991 .

[5]  G. Humphrey,et al.  Recognizing novel views of three-dimensional objects. , 1992, Canadian journal of psychology.

[6]  M. Tarr,et al.  To What Extent Do Unique Parts Influence Recognition Across Changes in Viewpoint? , 1995 .

[7]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Object and spatial visual working memory activate separate neural systems in human cortex. , 1996, Cerebral cortex.

[8]  H. A. Witkin,et al.  Studies in space orientation; further experiments on perception of the upright with displaced visual fields. , 1948, Journal of experimental psychology.

[9]  M Lipshits,et al.  Is there an effect of weightlessness on mental rotation of three-dimensional objects? , 1995, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[10]  M. Tarr,et al.  When does Human Object Recognition use a Viewer-Centered Reference Frame? , 1990 .

[11]  N. Wade.  Visual orientation during and after lateral head, body, and trunk tilt , 1968 .

[12]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects , 1971, Science.

[13]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  ‘What’ and ‘where’ in the human brain , 1994, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[14]  A. Friedman,et al.  Shape discriminations of three-dimensional objects depend on the number and location of bends , 1994, Perception & psychophysics.

[15]  F. Attneave,et al.  Discriminability of stimuli varying in physical and retinal orientation , 1967 .

[16]  B. Bergum,et al.  Attention and performance IX , 1982 .

[17]  W. Chase,et al.  Visual information processing. , 1974 .

[18]  M Lipshits,et al.  Prolonged weightlessness, reference frames and visual symmetry detection. , 1998, Acta astronautica.

[19]  Ross He,et al.  Orientation to the vertical in free divers. , 1969 .

[20]  Norbert Bischof,et al.  Optic-Vestibular Orientation to the Vertical , 1974 .

[21]  R. Dolan,et al.  Active representation of shape and spatial location in man. , 1996, Cerebral cortex.

[22]  Day Rh,et al.  Mechanisms involved in visual orientation constancy. , 1969 .

[23]  A. Sirigu,et al.  Pure Topographical Disorientation: A Definition and Anatomical Basis , 1987, Cortex.

[24]  R. Shepard,et al.  CHRONOMETRIC STUDIES OF THE ROTATION OF MENTAL IMAGES , 1973 .

[25]  J. Paillard.  Brain and space , 1991 .

[26]  J. Paillard.  Motor and representational framing of space , 1991 .

[27]  Nancy Kanwisher,et al.  A cortical representation of the local visual environment , 1998, Nature.

[28]  I. Rock,et al.  The effect of retinal and phenomenal orientation on the perception of form. , 1957, The American journal of psychology.

[29]  T. McNamara,et al.  Viewpoint Dependence in Scene Recognition , 1997 .

[30]  Effect of gravito-inertial cues on the coding of orientation in pre-attentive vision. , 1995, Journal of vestibular research : equilibrium & orientation.

[31]  M. Tarr.  Rotating objects to recognize them: A case study on the role of viewpoint dependency in the recognition of three-dimensional objects , 1995, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[32]  L. Matin,et al.  Change in Visually Perceived Eye Level without Change in Perceived Pitch , 1998, Perception.

[33]  M. Sanders.  Handbook of Sensory Physiology , 1975 .

[34]  Mislocalizations of Visual Elevation and Visual Vertical Induced by Visual Pitch: the Great Circle Model a , 1992, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[35]  M. Corballis,et al.  Detection of symmetry as a function of angular orientation. , 1975, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[36]  M. Guerraz,et al.  Head Orientation Involvement in Assessment of the Subjective Vertical during Whole Body Tilt , 1998, Perceptual and motor skills.

[37]  M Lipshits,et al.  Independence of bilateral symmetry detection from a gravitational reference frame. , 1995, Spatial vision.

[38]  N. Kanwisher,et al.  Mental Imagery of Faces and Places Activates Corresponding Stimulus-Specific Brain Regions , 2000, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[39]  S. Edelman,et al.  Orientation dependence in the recognition of familiar and novel views of three-dimensional objects , 1992, Vision Research.

[40]  P. Barraud,et al.  Respective Contribution of Orientation Contrast and Illusion of Self-Tilt to the Rod-And-Frame Effect , 1995, Perception.

[41]  A. Siegel,et al.  The development of spatial representations of large-scale environments. , 1975, Advances in child development and behavior.

[42]  D. Metzler,et al.  Mental rotation: effects of dimensionality of objects and type of task. , 1988, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.

[43]  C. Marendaz,et al.  Solving the rod-and-frame test in a tachistoscopic presentation: Effects of stimulus size and perceptual style , 1988, Perception & psychophysics.

[44]  A GRAYBIEL,et al.  PERCEPTION OF THE POSTURAL VERTICAL FOLLOWING PROLONGED BODILY TILT IN NORMALS AND SUBJECTS WITH LABYRINTHINE DEFECTS. , 1964, Acta oto-laryngologica.

[45]  M. Corballis,et al.  What’s up in mental rotation? , 1976 .

[46]  M. Corballis,et al.  Mental rotation under head tilt: Factors influencing the location of the subjective reference frame , 1978, Perception & psychophysics.