From balance to perception: vestibular-cognitive integration predicts signal discrimination in a Multirule Visual Monitoring Task

Objective The vestibular system has been hypothesized to serve as a cognitive anchor for spatial processing, yet its functional contribution under conditions of high cognitive load remains unclear. This study investigated how vestibular function interacts with attentional processes, specifically attentional breadth, to support perceptual discrimination during a demanding Multirule Visual Monitoring Task. Methods Participants performed a visual discrimination task with varying time pressure and load. Vestibular function, attentional shifting, and attentional breadth were assessed. Binary logistic regression and ROC analyses evaluated these factors’ ability to distinguish between high- and low-performance groups. Results In-sample classification analyses indicated that models incorporating both vestibular function and attentional breadth achieved higher classification performance in both simple (AUC = 0.961) and difficult (AUC = 0.945) task conditions than single-predictor model. Conversely, analysis of variance based on continuous performance scores revealed no significant interaction between vestibular function and attention. This divergence suggests that the joint contribution may be nonlinear or threshold-dependent, primarily captured through categorical classification rather than linear modulation of performance. Conclusion The findings are consistent with theoretical accounts of vestibular-cognitive interactions and indicate a joint contribution of vestibular function and attentional breadth to perceptual performance. The divergence between categorical and continuous analyses suggests this contribution may be nonlinear or threshold-dependent. Future work employing cross-validation and direct tests of nonlinear models is needed to further elucidate this relationship.