Vertical preference in judgment of line orientation A Slavutskaya, N Gerasimenko, S Kalinin, E Mikhailova |
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Department of Sensory Physiology, IHNA & NP RAS, Russian Federation
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| Visuospatial skills influence human functioning at many levels. Lines of different orientation are the basic features of visual objects. Therefore detection of their orientation is one of the key points of human visuospatial abilities. The aim of our study was to explore brain mechanisms of detection and identification of environmental spatial characteristics. In the first experiment 24 subjects (12 men) have to estimate the proximity of oblique lines to the vertical, horizontal, 45º and 135º axis. The stimuli were eight grids of oblique lines, and difference between adjacent grids was 9º. We found that RT was higher and accuracy was lower for ambiguous orientations (27º and 72º). The erroneous assessments of line orientation tended to be more vertical. Reaction time (RT) was lower and accuracy was higher for oblique lines that were closer to vertical in comparison with horizontal axis. In the second experiment the same subjects have to differentiate grids of horizontal and vertical lines, and RT was lower for vertical in comparison with horizontal orientation. Finally, our findings show predominance of the vertical axis in human visual system. We suppose that vertical preference is fundamental characteristic of visual spatial operations. The study was supported by RFH Grant No.12-36-01291-a2. |
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