Switching Spatial Reference Frames for Yaw and Pitch Navigation

Humans demonstrate preferences to use egocentric or allocentric reference frames in navigation tasks that lack embodied (vestibular and/or proprioceptive) cues. Here, we investigated how reference frame proclivities affect spatial navigation in horizontal versus vertical planes. Point-to-origin performance after visually displayed vertical trajectories was surprisingly accurate and almost matched yaw performance for both egocentric and allocentric strategies. For vertical direction changes, 39% of participants unexpectedly switched to their non-preferred (allocentric) reference frame. This might be explained by vertical (25–90 up/downward pitched) trajectories having lower ecological validity and creating more pronounced visuo-vestibular conflicts, emphasizing individual differences in processing idiothetic, embodied sensory