Visio-Vestibular Interaction in Humans: Changes in the Vestibular Response Following Visual Stimuli of Different Colors

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of whether visual stimuli of different colors can evoke a measurable vestibular response. A recently developed technique of measuring the vestibular response, called electrovestibulography (EVestG), was used in this study to assess the responsiveness of the efferent vestibular system. Visual stimuli of different colors (blue, green and red lights) along with white and black background were displayed to the participants through a virtual reality (VR) headset. Initially, the effect of each color was investigated; for each color, the corresponding red, green, or blue (RGB) value was set to 255 and the two others set to zero. Additionally, for the blue light, the impact of the intensity under well-lit (photopic) and low (close to mesopic vision range) intensity levels was separately examined. The results of this study indicate that not only does the vestibular system respond to light of different colors, but it also shows a sensitivity to the intensity of blue light. For blue light, the vestibular response changed in proportion to the intensity level, showing larger responses at higher intensities.