Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience

The ability of a moving observer to accurately perceive their heading direction is essential for maintaining balance and effective locomotion. Previous research has identified mechanisms for integrating multisensory signals presented simultaneously, but it remains unclear how observers integrate visual signals collected before and during their own movement to perceive their heading direction. Here we explore the impact of environmental motion presented ahead of self-motion on heading perception. Human observers sat on a platform, viewed visual motion stimuli, and then indicated the direction of their movement after the platform had moved. Our results demonstrate that environmental motion presented before the observer’s movement significantly influenced their self-motion perception. We explain this result using an optimal causal inference model that takes into account the causal relationship between visual signals generated before and during observer movement. Overall, our study highlights the crucial role of environmental motion presented before self-motion in multisensory integration and self-motion perception.