The contributions of visual flow and locomotor cues to walked distance estimation in a virtual environment

Abstract

Traversed distance perception involves estimating the extent of self-motion as one travels from one position in space to another. As such, it is a multi-modal experience in which information from both visual flow and locomotor cues (i.e. proprioceptive, efference copy and vestibular cues) jointly specify the magnitude of self-motion. While recent evidence has demonstrated the extent to which each of these cues can be used independently to estimate traversed distance, relatively little is known about how they are integrated when simultaneously present. Evaluating multi-modal cue integration in the context of dynamic locomotor behaviour is important to both understanding issues related to self-motion perception, as well as perceptual-motor coupling in real and virtual environments.