Apparent head position as a basis for a visual aftereffect of prolonged head tilt

Abstract

A possible explanation of the visual spatial aftereffect following head tilt with eyes closed is that it is an outcome of a proprioceptive aftereffect of head position. If the upright head is apparently tilted then it might be expected that a vertical line in a dark room would also be apparently tilted. This explanation predicts that the direction and magnitude of the visual and proprioceptive aftereffects would correspond. The second of two experiments showed that the trends of the two aftereffects as a function of head tilt angle were different. It was concluded that the visual aftereffect cannot be explained in terms of a proprioceptive aftereffect.