Effect of Vestibular Perceptual Learning on Vestibular Thresholds and Balance

The participants will be tilted and asked to indicate their perceived direction of self-motion (e.g., left or right). Feedback will be provided to promote learning (i.e., improved perception of motion). Feedback will only be provided after the subject response, and thus vestibular (i.e., self-motion) perception is required to judge the direction of the tilt stimulus. After each trial, a three second period of rest will be given. Each day of training will include four blocks of one-hundred trials each. Testing will take place in the dark (except for aims where a visual cue is provided). Subjects will be seated on a motion platform with a 5-point harness and the head restrained. Insert earbuds (along with a white noise signal) will be used to reduce external noise. Subjects will always be asked to make a decision (e.g. left versus right) by pressing buttons with their left or right hands. If not certain, subjects are instructed to provide their best guess.

The participants will be translated and asked to indicate their perceived direction of self-motion (e.g., left or right). Feedback will be provided to promote learning (i.e., improved perception of motion). Feedback will only be provided after the subject responds, and thus vestibular (i.e., self-motion) perception is required to judge the direction of the translation stimulus. After each trial, a three second period of rest will be given. Each day of training will include four blocks of one hundred trials each. Testing will take place in the dark (except for aims where a visual cue is provided). Subjects will be seated on a motion platform with a 5-point harness and the head restrained. Insert earbuds (along with a white noise signal) will be used to reduce external noise. Subjects will always be asked to make a decision (e.g. left versus right) by pressing buttons with their left or right hands. If not certain, subjects are instructed to provide their best guess.

The participants will be equally tilted and translated and asked to indicate their perceived direction of self-motion (e.g., left or right) . Feedback will be provided to promote learning (i.e., improved perception of motion). Feedback will only be provided after the subject responds. After each trial, a three second period of rest will be given. Each day of training will include four blocks; 2 blocks of roll tilt and 2 blocks of translation - one hundred trials each. Testing will take place in the dark (except for aims where a visual cue is provided). Subjects will be seated on a motion platform with a 5-point harness and the head restrained. Insert earbuds (along with a white noise signal) will be used to reduce external noise. Subjects will always be asked to make a decision (e.g. left versus right) by pressing buttons with their left or right hands. If not certain, subjects are instructed to provide their best guess.

Participants will complete home-based exercises that are not associated with improving vestibular perception or balance (e.g. saccades, smooth pursuit). Participants will sit in a comfortable chair facing out into a living space. They will then find a stationary object to the right and to the left of themselves as well as above and below their line of sight. Without moving their heads, they will look back and forth and up and down between the objects. Participants will complete a total of 400 eye motions per day for six days.