Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humans
The ability of blind humans to navigate complex environments through echolocation has received rapidly increasing scientific interest. However, technical limitations have precluded a formal quantification of the interplay between echolocation and self-motion. Here, we use a novel virtual echo-acoust...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2014-01-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.140185 |
| _version_ | 1818147201269891072 |
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| author | Ludwig Wallmeier Lutz Wiegrebe |
| author_facet | Ludwig Wallmeier Lutz Wiegrebe |
| author_sort | Ludwig Wallmeier |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ability of blind humans to navigate complex environments through echolocation has received rapidly increasing scientific interest. However, technical limitations have precluded a formal quantification of the interplay between echolocation and self-motion. Here, we use a novel virtual echo-acoustic space technique to formally quantify the influence of self-motion on echo-acoustic orientation. We show that both the vestibular and proprioceptive components of self-motion contribute significantly to successful echo-acoustic orientation in humans: specifically, our results show that vestibular input induced by whole-body self-motion resolves orientation-dependent biases in echo-acoustic cues. Fast head motions, relative to the body, provide additional proprioceptive cues which allow subjects to effectively assess echo-acoustic space referenced against the body orientation. These psychophysical findings clearly demonstrate that human echolocation is well suited to drive precise locomotor adjustments. Our data shed new light on the sensory–motor interactions, and on possible optimization strategies underlying echolocation in humans. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T12:31:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8cf2da4d7ddc419fb02f17a8c5428f4a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T12:31:29Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-8cf2da4d7ddc419fb02f17a8c5428f4a2022-12-22T01:07:14ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032014-01-011310.1098/rsos.140185140185Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humansLudwig WallmeierLutz WiegrebeThe ability of blind humans to navigate complex environments through echolocation has received rapidly increasing scientific interest. However, technical limitations have precluded a formal quantification of the interplay between echolocation and self-motion. Here, we use a novel virtual echo-acoustic space technique to formally quantify the influence of self-motion on echo-acoustic orientation. We show that both the vestibular and proprioceptive components of self-motion contribute significantly to successful echo-acoustic orientation in humans: specifically, our results show that vestibular input induced by whole-body self-motion resolves orientation-dependent biases in echo-acoustic cues. Fast head motions, relative to the body, provide additional proprioceptive cues which allow subjects to effectively assess echo-acoustic space referenced against the body orientation. These psychophysical findings clearly demonstrate that human echolocation is well suited to drive precise locomotor adjustments. Our data shed new light on the sensory–motor interactions, and on possible optimization strategies underlying echolocation in humans.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.140185auditoryecholocationbinaural hearingtemporal processing |
| spellingShingle | Ludwig Wallmeier Lutz Wiegrebe Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humans Royal Society Open Science auditory echolocation binaural hearing temporal processing |
| title | Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humans |
| title_full | Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humans |
| title_fullStr | Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humans |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humans |
| title_short | Self-motion facilitates echo-acoustic orientation in humans |
| title_sort | self motion facilitates echo acoustic orientation in humans |
| topic | auditory echolocation binaural hearing temporal processing |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.140185 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ludwigwallmeier selfmotionfacilitatesechoacousticorientationinhumans AT lutzwiegrebe selfmotionfacilitatesechoacousticorientationinhumans |