Visual self-motion perception during head turns

Extra-retinal information is critical in the interpretation of visual input during self-motion. Turning our eyes and head to track objects displaces t he retinal image but does not affect our ability to navigate because we use extra-retinal information to compensate for these displacements. We showed observers animated displays depicting their forward motion through a scene . They perceived the simulated self-motion accurately while smoothly shifti ng the gaze by turning the head, but not when the same gaze shift was simul ated in the display; this indicates that the visual system also uses extra- retinal information during head turns. Additional experiments compared self -motion judgments during active and passive head turns, passive rotations o f the body and rotations of the body with head fixed in space. We found tha t accurate perception during active head turns is mediated by contributions from three extra-retinal cues: vestibular canal stimulation, neck proprioc eption and an efference copy of the motor command to turn the head.