Kinesthetic and Vestibular Senses (6A) Practice Test

A proprioception experiment asked participants to judge the angle of their right elbow without looking. The experimenter passively moved the forearm to a target angle, held it for 3 seconds, then returned the arm to a neutral position. Participants then actively reproduced the target angle. In one condition, a brief vibration was applied over the biceps tendon during the 3-second hold; in another, no vibration was applied. Vibration increased systematic overshooting of the target angle and participants reported that the forearm felt “more extended” than it actually was during the hold. Based on this setup, which conclusion about proprioception is most likely?

A vestibular-kinesthetic integration study tests motion sickness susceptibility during a virtual-reality (VR) rowing task. Participants sit on a stationary ergometer and perform rhythmic arm pulls while VR displays forward acceleration and deceleration. In one condition, the visual motion is synchronized with participants’ pulling cadence; in another, it lags by 300 ms. Participants rate nausea and also complete a timing task estimating when their hands reach peak pull. Nausea increases and timing accuracy worsens in the lag condition. Which outcome would best illustrate the integration of kinesthetic and vestibular senses?

A Greater nausea and poorer hand-timing when visual self-motion conflicts with body-based motion cues, increasing sensory mismatch during movement.

B Lower nausea in the lag condition because delayed visual input strengthens proprioceptive signaling in the arms.

C No change in nausea across conditions because vestibular input is irrelevant when the head remains relatively still.

D Improved hand-timing in the lag condition because vestibular signals directly encode hand position, compensating for the visual delay.