Changes in Apparent Body Orientation and Sensory Localization Induced by Vibration of Postural Muscles: Vibratory Myesthetic Illusions

Illusions of continuous body tilt and rotation can be elicited by vibrating postural muscles of subjects standing in the dark. During such illusory motion, the apparent pivot point of the body can be influenced systematically by touch and pressure cues. Strong apparent movement is sometimes accompained by nystagmus of compensatory sign. If a small target light is visible during vibration, visual motion of like direction and velocity will accompany the illusory body motion. We have designated this pattern of apparent body and visual motion the "propriogyral illusion". Full room illumination abolishes both components of the propiogyral illusion. When the propriogyral illusion is being experienced, there is a dissociation between apparent displacement and apparent velocity; the extent of displacement is always less than would be expected on the basis of apparent velocity. The illusions of continuous body motion and the propriogyral illusion represent elements of a general set of vibratory myesthetic illusions that influence apparent posture, sensory, localization, and position sense of the body. These illusions demonstrate an important contribution of muscle afferent and touch-pressure information to the central mechanisms that determine apparent spatial orientation and visual localization. They also provide evidence that somatosensory information about orientation can influence oculomotor control.