The Autonomy of Visual Kinaesthesis

Abstract

Kinaesthesis, the sensing of body movement, which is essential for controlling activity, depends on registering the changes which accompany body movement. While there are two basic types of change—mechanical (articular, cutaneous, and vestibular) and visual—and so two potential sources of kinaesthetic information, the mechanical changes have traditionally been considered the basis of kinaesthesis, vision being considered a purely exteroceptive sense. J.J. Gibson, on the other hand, has argued that vision is a powerful kinaesthetic sense. To test this idea visual–mechanical kinaesthetic conflicts were created by moving the visible surroundings linearly forward and backward around a passively or actively moving subject. In most cases vision dominated. Therefore vision is not a purely exteroceptive sense, nor is visual kinaesthesis simply an adjunct to mechanical kinaesthesis. Vision is an autonomous kinaesthetic sense.