Neuropsychological Approaches to Visually-Induced Vection: an Overview and Evaluation of Neuroimaging and Neurophysiological Studies.

Abstract

Moving visual stimuli can elicit the sensation of self-motion in stationary observers, a phenomenon commonly referred to as vection. Despite the long history of vection research, the neuro-cognitive processes underlying vection have only recently gained increasing attention. Various neuropsychological techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) have been used to investigate the temporal and spatial characteristics of the neuro-cognitive processing during vection in healthy participants. These neuropsychological studies allow for the identification of different neuro-cognitive correlates of vection, which (a) will help to unravel the neural basis of vection and (b) offer opportunities for applying vection as a tool in other research areas. The purpose of the current review is to evaluate these studies in order to show the advances in neuropsychological vection research and the challenges that lie ahead. The overview of the literature will also demonstrate the large methodological variability within this research domain, limiting the integration of results. Next, we will summarize methodological considerations and suggest helpful recommendations for future vection research, which may help to enhance the comparability across neuropsychological vection studies.