Shotgun approaches to gait analysis: insights & limitations.

Background: Identifying features for gait classification is a formidable problem. The number of candidate measures is legion. This calls for proper, objective criteria when ranking their relevance.

Canal and otolith contributions to visual orientation constancy during sinusoidal roll rotation.

Using vestibular sensors to maintain visual stability during changes in head tilt, crucial when panoramic cues are not available, presents a computational challenge. Reliance on the otoliths requires a neural strategy for resolving their tilt/translation ambiguity, such as canal-otolith interaction or frequency segregation. The canal signal is subject to bandwidth limitations.

Nature of the transition between two modes of external space perception in tilted subjects.

A striking feature of visual verticality estimates in the dark is undercompensation for lateral body tilt. Earlier studies and models suggest that this so-called Aubert (A) effect increases gradually to around 130 degrees tilt and then decays smoothly on approaching the inverted position. By contrast, we recently found an abrupt transition toward errors of opposite sign (E effect) when body tilt exceeded 135 degrees .

Interpretation of a discontinuity in the sense of verticality at large body tilt.

Results of earlier spatial-orientation studies focusing on the sense of verticality have emphasized an intriguing paradox. Despite evidence that nearly veridical signals for gravicentric head orientation and egocentric visual stimulus orientation are available, roll-tilted subjects err in the direction of the long body axis when adjusting a visual line to vertical in darkness (Aubert effect). This has led to the suggestion that a central egocentric bias signal with fixed strength and direction acts to pull the perceived vertical to the subjects' zenith (M-model).