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Changes in apparent body orientation and sensory localization induced by vibration of postural muscles - Vibratory myesthetic illusionsHuman experiments are carried out which support the observation of Goodwin (1973) and Goodwin et al. (1972) that vibration of skeletal muscles can elicit illusory limb motion. These experiments extend the class of possible myesthetic illusions by showing that vibration of the appropriate muscles can produce illusory body motion in nearly any desired direction. Such illusory changes in posture occur only when visual information about body orientation is absent; these changes in apparent posture are sometimes accompanied by a slow-phase nystagmus that compensates for the direction of apparent body motion. During illusory body motion a stationary target light that is fixated will appear to move with the body at the same apparent velocity. However, this pattern of apparent body motion and conjoint visual - defined as propriogyral illusion - is suppressed if the subject is in a fully illuminated environment providing cues about true body orientation. Persuasive evidence is thus provided for the contribution of both muscle afferent and touch-pressure information to the supraspinal mechanisms that determine apparent orientation on the basis of ongoing patterns of interoceptive and exteroceptive activity.
Document ID
19790046640
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Lackner, J. R.
(Brandeis University Waltham; MIT, Cambridge, Mass., United States)
Levine, M. S.
(Brandeis University Waltham, Mass., United States)
Date Acquired
August 9, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1979
Subject Category
Aerospace Medicine
Accession Number
79A30653
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS9-15147
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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