Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Exp Brain Res DOI 10.1007/s00221-017-5033-1 RESEARCH ARTICLE The Shepard–Risset glissando: music that moves you Rebecca A. Mursic 1  · Bernhard E. Riecke 2  · Deborah Apthorp 3,4  · Stephen Palmisano 1   Received: 22 March 2017 / Accepted: 12 July 2017 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 fndings, we also found that individual diferences in pos- tural instability appeared to signifcantly predict auditory vection strength ratings. These fndings are consistent with the notion that auditory contributions to self-motion per- ception may be predominantly due to higher-level cognitive factors. Keywords Illusory self-motion · Vection · Auditory perception · Shepard–Risset glissando · Postural sway Introduction Vection has traditionally been used to refer to visual illu- sions of self-motion elicited in stationary observers by large patterns of optic fow (Brandt et al. 1973; Hettinger et al. 2014; Palmisano et al. 2015). These visual illusions of self- motion occur in the absence of any physical motion, and despite conficting cues from other senses that the observer is stationary (Lackner 1977; Keshavarz et al. 2014). Visu- ally induced vection is generally assumed to be the result of low-level perceptual processes associated with self-motion. Consistent with this notion, early research identifed a vari- ety of low-level visual stimulus factors (display size, speed, density, etc.) that could signifcantly afect the induction of vection (see Riecke 2010 for a review). However, the expe- rience of visual vection is now known also to depend on higher-level cognitive factors (e.g. Keshavarz et al. 2017; Lepecq et al. 1995; Palmisano and Chan 2004; Riecke et al. 2005; Riecke et al. 2006). Cognitive contributions to visual vection Ecological plausibility, semantics, metaphor and a variety of other cognitive manipulations have been shown to alter Abstract Sounds are thought to contribute to the percep- tions of self-motion, often via higher-level, cognitive mech- anisms. This study examined whether illusory self-motion (i.e. vection) could be induced by auditory metaphorical motion stimulation (without providing any spatialized or low-level sensory information consistent with self-motion). Five diferent types of auditory stimuli were presented in mono to our 20 blindfolded, stationary participants (via a loud speaker array): (1) an ascending Shepard–Risset glis- sando; (2) a descending Shepard–Risset glissando; (3) a combined Shepard–Risset glissando; (4) a combined- adjusted (loudness-controlled) Shepard–Risset glissando; and (5) a white-noise control stimulus. We found that audi- tory vection was consistently induced by all four Shepard– Risset glissandi compared to the white-noise control. This metaphorical auditory vection appeared similar in strength to the vection induced by the visual reference stimulus sim- ulating vertical self-motion. Replicating past visual vection Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00221-017-5033-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Rebecca A. Mursic rm2707@uowmail.edu.au 1 School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 2 School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT), Simon Fraser University, 250-13450 102nd Avenue, Surrey, BC V3T 0A3, Canada 3 Research School of Psychology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia 4 Research School of Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia