Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Expérimentation cérébrale
-
Vibratory stimulation of the neck muscles can elicit illusory drift of a visual target; after vibration stops, motion in the opposite direction is perceived. This motion aftereffect (MAE) could be due to adaptation of proprioceptive mechanisms that encode head orientation, or at a stage where visual and proprioceptive information are combined. To distinguish between these two possibilities, we applied vibratory stimulation to dorsolateral neck muscles for 15-s periods alternating with 15-s periods without vibration. ⋯ Results from our previous study ruled out an explanation based on suppression of eye movements. Thus, the most likely site responsible for the visual aftereffect lies with bimodal mechanisms combining proprioceptive and visual information. We conclude that the bimodal mechanisms adapted more quickly than the proprioceptive mechanisms from which they received input.