We investigated visual-vestibular interaction when a body that was passively rotated about its vertical axis while rotating vertical gratings were visually presented. A turntable, which generated a constant angular acceleration stimulated the semicircular canals and a head mounted display, provided an independent visual input. Vestibular stimulation ranged between 0.02 deg/s2 and 2.0 deg/s2. We found that visual image information was predominat when the visual image was presented and the body acceleration was less than 0.1 deg/s2. We also found that in the case of opposite direction between body rotation and visual image rotation, the estimated magnitude of a body rotation increased with the acceleration of visual image when the vestibular acceleration was between 0.1 deg/s2 and 1.0 deg/s2. These experimental findings can be used to develop a simulator or a display which can effectively produce a rotational sensation of the body.
