Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Inertial Frames of Reference01:03

Inertial Frames of Reference

7.2K
Newton’s first law is usually considered to be a statement about reference frames. It provides a method for identifying a special type of reference frame: the inertial reference frame. In principle, we can make the net force on a body zero. If its velocity relative to a given frame is constant, then that frame is said to be inertial. So, by definition, an inertial reference frame is a reference frame where Newton's first law holds valid. Newton's first law applies to objects with...
7.2K
Non-inertial Frames of Reference01:27

Non-inertial Frames of Reference

6.0K
A reference frame accelerating or decelerating relative to an inertial frame is a non-inertial frame. To help understand this, consider what taking off in an airplane, turning a corner in a car, riding a merry-go-round, and the circular motion of a tropical cyclone all have in common. All these systems are accelerating, decelerating, or rotating relative to the Earth; hence, they all are non-inertial frames. All these systems exhibit inertial forces, which merely seem to arise from motion,...
6.0K
Newton's Law of Gravitational Attraction01:24

Newton's Law of Gravitational Attraction

594
Sir Isaac Newton established the universality of the law of gravitational attraction based on empirical evidence and inductive reasoning. He published his work in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("the Principia") on July 5, 1687.
Newton's law of gravitational attraction is a fundamental law of physics that governs the attraction between objects. It states that the magnitude of the gravitational force between any two objects is proportional to their masses and inversely...
594
Gravitation01:16

Gravitation

6.5K
In the years before Newton, a general belief prevailed that different laws governed objects in the sky than objects on Earth. When Kepler wrote down the three laws of planetary motion, explaining in detail the geometrical properties of the planetary orbits around the Sun, there was no immediate idea to discern their connection with more fundamental laws. It was Isaac Newton who, in 1665–66, figured out the connection between planetary motion, the motion of the moon around the Earth, and...
6.5K
Newton's Law of Gravitation01:15

Newton's Law of Gravitation

12.9K
Our everyday observation tells us that all objects close to the Earth naturally tend to fall to the ground. Early philosophers assumed that this downward force was unique to Earth. By the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) put forward the heliocentric theory, which suggested that Earth and other planets orbited the sun, while the Moon orbited the Earth. However, it was Isaac Newton (1642-1727) who linked these two motions together in the 17th century. He reasoned that the force of...
12.9K
Principle of Equivalence01:18

Principle of Equivalence

2.2K
According to Albert Einstein (1897-1955), free-falling and feeling weightless are intrinsically linked. If a person were in free-fall under gravity, for example, diving towards the Earth from an airplane, they would feel completely weightless. Similarly, a person descending in a lift may feel partially weightless. Broadly speaking, it is assumed that an object in a uniform gravitational field and an object undergoing constant acceleration in the absence of gravity are under the same...
2.2K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Stable readout of visual representations mediates flexible generalization.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Spatiotemporal encoding of touch signals in the human somatosensory and motor cortices.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Loss of neuronal population organization links pathology to behavior in a model of Alzheimer's disease.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Expectation Of Tactile Signals In Human Motor Cortex.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2025
Same author

Guided by Noise: Correlated Variability Channels Task-Relevant Information in Sensory Neurons.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Early development of direction selectivity in higher visual cortex.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same journal

Distinct involvements of the subthalamic nucleus subpopulations in reward-biased decision-making in monkeys.

eLife·2026
Same journal

Pink1-mediated mitophagy in the endothelium releases proteins encoded by mitochondrial DNA and activates neutrophil responses during inflammation.

eLife·2026
Same journal

Restraint of melanoma progression by cells in the local skin environment.

eLife·2026
Same journal

Brawn before bite in endemic Asian eutherian mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction.

eLife·2026
Same journal

Experimental evolution to thermal stress indicates climate resilience in a cosmopolitan arthropod.

eLife·2026
Same journal

Correlates of protection against African swine fever virus identified by a systems immunology approach.

eLife·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Author Spotlight: Insights into the Analysis of Human Interaction with 3D Virtual Objects
06:36

Author Spotlight: Insights into the Analysis of Human Interaction with 3D Virtual Objects

Published on: October 18, 2024

1.0K

Object representation in a gravitational reference frame.

Alexandriya M X Emonds1,2, Ramanujan Srinath2,3, Kristina J Nielsen2,3

  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States.

Elife
|August 10, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The brain maintains visual stability during head tilts by using a neural strategy in the anterior inferotemporal cortex (IT). This region helps stabilize object orientation despite significant retinal image rotation.

Keywords:
gravityit cortexneuroscienceobject processingrhesus macaquescene visionvision

More Related Videos

Coherence between Brain Cortical Function and Neurocognitive Performance during Changed Gravity Conditions
12:29

Coherence between Brain Cortical Function and Neurocognitive Performance during Changed Gravity Conditions

Published on: May 23, 2011

19.6K
Bringing the Visible Universe into Focus with Robo-AO
10:35

Bringing the Visible Universe into Focus with Robo-AO

Published on: February 12, 2013

19.5K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Author Spotlight: Insights into the Analysis of Human Interaction with 3D Virtual Objects
06:36

Author Spotlight: Insights into the Analysis of Human Interaction with 3D Virtual Objects

Published on: October 18, 2024

1.0K
Coherence between Brain Cortical Function and Neurocognitive Performance during Changed Gravity Conditions
12:29

Coherence between Brain Cortical Function and Neurocognitive Performance during Changed Gravity Conditions

Published on: May 23, 2011

19.6K
Bringing the Visible Universe into Focus with Robo-AO
10:35

Bringing the Visible Universe into Focus with Robo-AO

Published on: February 12, 2013

19.5K

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Primate Vision
  • Sensory Integration

Background:

  • The human visual system maintains perceived world stability despite significant head movements and resulting retinal image rotation.
  • The anterior inferotemporal cortex (IT) is a critical area for object vision in primates, processing complex visual information.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying rotational stability in the anterior inferotemporal cortex (IT) during lateral head tilts.
  • To determine if neurons in the IT cortex maintain stable object orientation tuning despite changes in retinal image orientation.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded object orientation tuning of IT neurons in macaque monkeys.
  • Monkeys were subjected to lateral head tilts of +25 and -25 degrees, causing substantial retinal image rotation.
  • Analyzed the stability of neuronal tuning with respect to gravity across different head tilt angles.

Main Results:

  • A significant proportion (63%) of IT neurons exhibited stable object orientation tuning relative to gravity, despite large retinal image rotations.
  • Neuronal gravitational tuning was influenced by vestibular, somatosensory, and visual cues, indicating integration of sensory information.
  • Findings suggest the IT cortex plays a role in processing scene-based gravitational cues.

Conclusions:

  • The anterior inferotemporal cortex (IT) employs a neural strategy to maintain visual stability and object orientation during head movements.
  • An internal gravitational reference frame, processed in IT, is crucial for understanding the physical world, including object properties and interactions.
  • This research highlights the brain's sophisticated mechanisms for integrating sensory information to create a stable perception of a dynamic environment.