Temporal synchrony effects of optic flow and vestibular inputs on multisensory heading perception

• Published in: Cell reports (Cambridge) Vol. 37; no. 7; p. 109999
• Main Authors: Zheng, Qihao, Zhou, Luxin, Gu, Yong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 16.11.2021; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Brain - physiology; Cues; decision making; Ear, Inner - physiology; FEF; heading perception; LIP; Macaca mulatta; Male; Motion Perception - physiology; multisensory integration; optic flow; Optic Flow - physiology; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Photic Stimulation; Postural Balance - physiology; self-motion; vestibular; Vestibule, Labyrinth - physiology; Visual Perception - physiology; optic flow; self-motion; heading perception; LIP; FEF; decision making; multisensory integration; vestibular
• ISSN: 2211-1247; 2211-1247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109999

Precise heading perception requires integration of optic flow and vestibular cues, yet the two cues often carry distinct temporal dynamics that may confound cue integration benefit. Here, we varied temporal offset between the two sensory inputs while macaques discriminated headings around straight ahead. We find the best heading performance does not occur under natural condition of synchronous inputs with zero offset but rather when visual stimuli are artificially adjusted to lead vestibular by a few hundreds of milliseconds. This amount exactly matches the lag between the vestibular acceleration and visual speed signals as measured from single-unit-activity in frontal and posterior parietal cortices. Manually aligning cues in these areas best facilitates integration with some nonlinear gain modulation effects. These findings are consistent with predictions from a model by which the brain integrates optic flow speed with a faster vestibular acceleration signal for sensing instantaneous heading direction during self-motion in the environment. [Display omitted] •Heading perception is best boosted when optic flow leads vestibular input•FEF and LIP integrate vestibular acceleration and visual speed information•Aligning visuo-vestibular inputs in FEF and LIP better facilitate cue integration•Brain integrates temporal-incongruent visuo-vestibular signals for heading estimation Zheng et al. show that heading perception is best boosted when optic flow leads vestibular input by a few hundred milliseconds, which is consistent with a model by which the brain integrates temporal-incongruent signals in frontal and posterior cortices for multisensory heading perception.