Perceptual compensation for eye torsion

To correctly perceive visual directions relative to the head, one needs to compensate for the eye's orientation in the head. In this study we focus on compensation for the eye's torsion regarding objects that contain the line of sight and objects that do not pass through the fixation point. Subjects judged the location of flashed probe points relative to their binocular plane of regard, the mid-sagittal or the transverse plane of the head, while fixating straight ahead, right upward, or right downward at 30 cm distance, to evoke eye torsion according to Listing's law. In addition, we investigated the effects of head-tilt and monocular versus binocular viewing. Flashed probe points were correctly localized in the plane of regard irrespective of eccentric viewing, head-tilt, and monocular or binocular vision in nearly all subjects and conditions. Thus, eye torsion that varied by +/-9 degrees across these different conditions was in general compensated for. However, the position of probes relative to the midsagittal or the transverse plane, both true head-fixed planes, was misjudged. We conclude that judgment of the orientation of the plane of regard, a plane that contains the line of sight, is veridical, indicating accurate compensation for actual eye torsion. However, when judgment has to be made of a head-fixed plane that is offset with respect to the line of sight, eye torsion that accompanies that eye orientation appears not to be taken into account correctly.

[1]  F. Bremmer,et al.  Spatial invariance of visual receptive fields in parietal cortex neurons , 1997, Nature.

[2]  Werner Haustein,et al.  Head-centric visual localization with lateral body tilt , 1992, Vision Research.

[3]  C.C.A.M. Gielen,et al.  An alternative three-dimensional interpretation of Hering's equal-innervation law for version and vergence eye movements , 1995, Vision Research.

[4]  Robert D. McIntosh,et al.  Vertical gaze angle as a distance cue for programming reaching: insights from visual form agnosia II (of III) , 2001, Experimental Brain Research.

[5]  T. Vilis,et al.  Geometric relations of eye position and velocity vectors during saccades , 1990, Vision Research.

[6]  D R Proffitt,et al.  Mapping the Zone of Eye-Height Utility for Seated and Standing Observers , 2000, Perception.

[7]  H. Collewijn,et al.  Human ocular counterroll: assessment of static and dynamic properties from electromagnetic scleral coil recordings , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[8]  A. V. van den Berg,et al.  Visually evoked cyclovergence and extended listing's law. , 2000, Journal of neurophysiology.

[9]  L. Matin,et al.  Influences of visual pitch and visual yaw on visually perceived eye level (VPEL) and straight ahead (VPSA) for erect and rolled-to-horizontal observers , 2001, Vision Research.

[10]  K. Nakayama,et al.  Listing's law, eye position sense, and perception of the vertical , 1977, Vision Research.

[11]  W. Haustein,et al.  Evaluation of retinal orientation and gaze direction in the perception of the vertical , 1990, Vision Research.

[12]  T. Vilis,et al.  Rotation of Listing's plane during vergence , 1992, Vision Research.

[13]  J. T. Enright.  Stereopsis, cyclotorsional “noise” and the apparent vertical , 1990, Vision Research.

[14]  Martin S Banks,et al.  Is vertical disparity used to determine azimuth? , 2002, Vision Research.

[15]  S. D. Hippisley-Cox,et al.  Pooling of Vertical Disparities by the Human Visual System , 1996, Perception.

[16]  M. Mon-Williams,et al.  Some Recent Studies on the Extraretinal Contribution to Distance Perception , 1999, Perception.

[17]  A. V. van den Berg,et al.  Representation of heading direction in far and near head space , 2003, Experimental Brain Research.

[18]  J. E. W. Mayhew,et al.  A computational model of binocular depth perception , 1982, Nature.

[19]  A. Milner,et al.  Perception and Action in Depth , 1998, Consciousness and Cognition.

[20]  Jan Ygge,et al.  Assessment of ocular counterroll during head tilt using binocular video oculography. , 2002, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[21]  M. Mon-Williams,et al.  Vertical gaze angle: absolute height-in-scene information for the programming of prehension , 2001, Experimental Brain Research.

[22]  J. Crawford,et al.  Gaze-Centered Remapping of Remembered Visual Space in an Open-Loop Pointing Task , 1998, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[23]  K. Zilles,et al.  Polymodal Motion Processing in Posterior Parietal and Premotor Cortex A Human fMRI Study Strongly Implies Equivalencies between Humans and Monkeys , 2001, Neuron.

[24]  A. V. van den Berg,et al.  Judgements of Heading , 1996, Vision Research.

[25]  E. M. Klier,et al.  Human oculomotor system accounts for 3-D eye orientation in the visual-motor transformation for saccades. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[26]  A. V. D. Berg,et al.  Binocular eye orientation during fixations: Listing's law extended to include eye vergence , 1993, Vision Research.

[27]  Michael Fetter,et al.  Three-Dimensional Kinematics of Eye, Head and Limb Movements , 1997 .

[28]  Christopher J Bockisch,et al.  Different motor systems use similar damped extraretinal eye position information , 1999, Vision Research.

[29]  D Guitton,et al.  Visual-motor transformations required for accurate and kinematically correct saccades. , 1997, Journal of neurophysiology.

[30]  J D Crawford,et al.  Implications of ocular kinematics for the internal updating of visual space. , 2001, Journal of neurophysiology.

[31]  Z. Kapoula,et al.  Listing’s plane rotation with convergence: role of disparity, accommodation, and depth perception , 1999, Experimental Brain Research.

[32]  A. V. van den Berg,et al.  Relative Orientation of Primary Positions of the Two Eyes , 1997, Vision Research.

[33]  T Vilis,et al.  Eye position sense contributes to the judgement of slant , 2001, Vision Research.

[34]  J. F. Soechting,et al.  Early stages in a sensorimotor transformation , 1992, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[35]  Zijiang J. He,et al.  Distance determined by the angular declination below the horizon , 2001, Nature.

[36]  W Pieter Medendorp,et al.  Rotational Remapping in Human Spatial Memory during Eye and Head Motion , 2002, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[37]  A. V. van den Berg,et al.  Binocular eye orientation during fixations: Listing's law extended to include eye vergence. , 1993, Vision research.