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Concurrent body movements have been shown to enhance the accuracy of spatial judgment, but it remains unclear whether they also contribute to perceptual estimates of gravitational space not involving body movements. To address this, we evaluated the effects of static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged whole-body tilt on the subsequent perceptual estimates of visual or postural vertical. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to continuously perform static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged tilt, and we assessed their effects on the prolonged tilt-induced shifts of subjective visual vertical (SVV) at a tilted position (during-tiltsession) or near upright (post-tiltsession). In Experiment 2, we evaluated how static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged tilt subsequently affected the subjective postural vertical (SPV). In Experiment 1, we observed that the SVV was significantly shifted toward the direction of prolonged tilt in both sessions. The SVV shifts decreased when performing dynamic arm movements in theduring-tiltsession, but not in thepost-tiltsession. In Experiment 2, as well as SVV, the SPV was shifted toward the direction of prolonged tilt, but it was not significantly attenuated by the performance of static or dynamic arm movements. The results of theduring-tiltsession suggest that the central nervous system utilizes additional information generated by dynamic body movements for perceptual estimates of visual vertical.

Massive, long-lived deep-sea red tree corals (Primnoa pacifica) form a solid, layered axis comprised of calcite and gorgonin skeleton. They are abundant on the outer continental shelf and upper slope of the Northeast Pacific, providing habitat for fish and invertebrates. Yet, their large size and arborescent morphology makes them susceptible to disturbance from fishing activities. A better understanding of their growth patterns will facilitate in-situ estimates of population age structure and biomass. Here, we evaluated relationships between ages, growth rates, gross morphological characteristics, and banding patterns in 11 colonies collected from depths of ~141–335 m off the Alaskan coast. These corals ranged in age from 12 to 80 years old. They grew faster radially (0.33–0.74 mm year-1) and axially (2.41–6.39 cm year-1) than in previously measured older colonies, suggesting that growth in P. pacifica declines slowly with age, and that basal diameter and axial height eventually plateau. However, since coral morphology correlated with age in younger colonies (< century), we developed an in-situ age estimation technique for corals from the Northeast Pacific Ocean providing a non-invasive method for evaluating coral age without removing colonies from the population. Furthermore, we determined that annual bands provided the most accurate means for determining coral age in live-collected corals, relative to radiometric dating. Taken together, this work provides insight into P. pacifica growth patterns to inform coastal managers about the demographics of this ecologically important species. With this new ability to estimate the age of red tree corals in-situ, we can readily determine the age-class structure and consequently, the maturity status of thickets, using non-invasive video survey techniques when coupled with mensuration systems such as lasers or stereo-cameras. Enhanced surveys could identify which populations are most vulnerable to disturbance from human activities, and which should be highlighted for protection.

Contains fulltext : 225220.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) When we reach for an object during a passive whole body rotation, a tangential Coriolis force is generated on the arm. Yet, within a few trials, the brain adapts to this force so it does not disrupt the reach. Is this adaptation governed by a single-rate or dual-rate learning process? Here, guided by state-space modeling, we studied human reach adaptation in a fully-enclosed rotating room. After 90 pre-rotation reaches (baseline), participants were trained to make 240 to-and-fro reaches while the room rotated at 10 rpm (block A), then performed 6 reaches under opposite room rotation (block B), and subsequently made 100 post-rotation reaches (washout). A control group performed the same paradigm, but without the reaches during rotation block B. Single-rate and dual-rate models can be best dissociated if there would be full un-learning of compensation A during block B, but minimal learning of B. From the perspective of a dual-rate model, the un-learning observed in block B would mainly be caused by the faster state, such that the washout reaches would show retention effects of the slower state, called spontaneous recovery. Alternatively, following a single-rate model, the same state would govern the learning in block A and un-learning in block B, such that the washout reaches mimic the baseline reaches. Our results do not provide clear signs of spontaneous recovery in the washout reaches. Model fits further show that a single-rate process outperformed a dual-rate process. We suggest that a single-rate process underlies Coriolis force reach adaptation, perhaps because these forces relate to familiar body dynamics and are assigned to an internal cause. 19 p.

This study compares husbands' and wives' views on the person in a couple who should be responsible for preparing for hurricane hazards; it also examines whether the varying levels of agreement reached by husbands and wives regarding this responsibility are associated with actual preparedness behaviors. An online survey targeting married, heterosexual couples living in Sarasota County, Florida, USA was sent out between March and May, 2015. Both the husbands and the wives were asked to fill out the survey. A total of 170 surveys were used for analysis. Results suggested that husbands and wives felt that they had shared responsibility for most of the 19 preparedness behaviors considered. However, a few stereotypically masculine preparedness behaviors were found to typically fall to husbands. Husbands' and wives' views of perceived responsibility were not statistically different, but husbands tended to favor individual responsibility, while wives tended to favor joint responsibility. Higher levels of agreement were significantly associated with greater engagement in planning-related preparedness behaviors. Policy implications are discussed.

Artists can represent a 3D object by using only contours in a 2D drawing. Prior studies have shown that people can use such drawings to perceive 3D shapes reliably, but it is not clear how useful this kind of contour information actually is in a real dynamical scene in which people interact with objects. To address this issue, we developed an Augmented Reality (AR) device that can show a participant a contour-drawing or a grayscale-image of a real dynamical scene in an immersive manner. We compared the performance of people in a variety of run-of-the-mill tasks with both contour-drawings and grayscale-images under natural viewing conditions in three behavioral experiments. The results of these experiments showed that the people could perform almost equally well with both types of images. This contour information may be sufficient to provide the basis for our visual system to obtain much of the 3D information needed for successful visuomotor interactions in our everyday life.

The decisions that individuals make when recovering from and adapting to repeated hazards affect a region's vulnerability in future hazards. As such, community vulnerability is not a static property but rather a dynamic property dependent on behavioral responses to repeated hazards and damage. This paper is the first of its kind to build a framework that addresses the complex interactions between repeated hazards, regional damage, mitigation decisions, and community vulnerability. The framework enables researchers and regional planners to visualize and quantify how a community could evolve over time in response to repeated hazards under various behavioral scenarios. An illustrative example using parcel-level data from Anne Arundel County, Maryland-a county that experiences fairly frequent hurricanes-is presented to illustrate the methodology and to demonstrate how the interplay between individual choices and regional vulnerability is affected by the region's hurricane experience.

Bessel beams have been successfully used in two-photon laser scanning fluorescence microscopy to extend the depth of field (EDF), which makes it possible to observe fast events volumetrically. However, the depth information is lost due to integration of fluorescence signals along the propagation direction. We describe the design and implementation of two-photon lasers scanning stereomicroscopy, which allows viewing dynamic processes in three-dimensional (3D) space stereoscopically in real-time with shutter glasses at the speed of 1.4 volumes per second. The depth information can be appreciated by human visual system or be recovered with correspondence algorithms for some cases.