The pigeon optokinetic system: Visual input in extraocular muscle coordinates

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 945-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas R. W. Wylie ◽  
Barrie J. Frost
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Purkinje Cells ◽  
Extraocular Muscle ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Eye Muscle ◽  
Optokinetic System ◽  
Eye Muscles ◽  
Direction Preference

AbstractThe generation of compensatory eye movements in response to rotational head movements involves the transformation of visual-optokinetic and vestibular signals into commands controlling the appropriate eye muscles. Previously, it has been shown that the three systems (optokinetic, vestibular, and eye muscle) share a similar three-dimensional reference frame. In this report, we suggest that a peculiarity in the structure of the horizontal recti in pigeons demonstrates that the optokinetic system is organized with respect to the eye muscles rather than the vestibular canals. Measurements of the orientation of the plane for each of the lateral and medial recti were obtained. These were compared with the direction preferences of optokinetic neurons responsive to horizontal motion, namely “back” units in the nucleus of the basal optic root (nBOR), “forward” units in the pretectal nucleus lentiformis mesencephali (LM), and “vertical axis” (VA) Purkinje cells in the flocculus. The average direction preference of LM neurons excited in response to forward (temporal to nasal) visual motion, and VA Purkinje cells in response to optokinetic motion in the ipsilateral visual field was approximately parallel to the visual horizontal. This corresponded to the orientation of the medial rectus, which was also approximately parallel to the visual horizontal. The average direction preference of nBOR neurons excited in response to backward (nasal to temporal) visual motion, and VA Purkinje cells in response to optokinetic motion in the contralateral visual field was approximately 20–30 deg down from the visual horizontal. The orientation of the lateral rectus was also approximately 20–30 deg down from the visual horizontal. These data suggest that the incoming optokinetic signals are organized with respect to the outgoing extraocular muscle commands.

scholarly journals The Effect of Motion Direction and Eccentricity on Vection, VR Sickness and Head Movements in Virtual Reality

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Katharina Margareta Theresa Pöhlmann ◽  
Julia Föcker ◽  
Patrick Dickinson ◽  
Adrian Parke ◽  
Louise O’Hare
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Lateral Motion ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Moving Stimulus ◽  
Entire Visual Field ◽  
Posterior Direction ◽  
Anterior Posterior

Abstract Virtual Reality (VR) experienced through head-mounted displays often leads to vection, discomfort and sway in the user. This study investigated the effect of motion direction and eccentricity on these three phenomena using optic flow patterns displayed using the Valve Index. Visual motion stimuli were presented in the centre, periphery or far periphery and moved either in depth (back and forth) or laterally (left and right). Overall vection was stronger for motion in depth compared to lateral motion. Additionally, eccentricity primarily affected stimuli moving in depth with stronger vection for more peripherally presented motion patterns compared to more central ones. Motion direction affected the various aspects of VR sickness differently and modulated the effect of eccentricity on VR sickness. For stimuli moving in depth far peripheral presentation caused more discomfort, whereas for lateral motion the central stimuli caused more discomfort. Stimuli moving in depth led to more head movements in the anterior–posterior direction when the entire visual field was stimulated. Observers demonstrated more head movements in the anterior–posterior direction compared to the medio-lateral direction throughout the entire experiment independent of motion direction or eccentricity of the presented moving stimulus. Head movements were elicited on the same plane as the moving stimulus only for stimuli moving in depth covering the entire visual field. A correlation showed a positive relationship between dizziness and vection duration and between general discomfort and sway. Identifying where in the visual field motion presented to an individual causes the least amount of VR sickness without losing vection and presence can guide development for Virtual Reality games, training and treatment programmes.

Complex Spike Activity of Purkinje Cells in the Ventral Uvula and Nodulus of Pigeons in Response to Translational Optic Flow

1999 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 256-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas R. W. Wylie ◽  
Barrie J. Frost
Keyword(s):  
Purkinje Cells ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Spike Activity ◽  
Semicircular Canals ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Postural Control System ◽  
Complex Spike ◽  
Forward Translation ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
Direction Preference

Wylie, Douglas R. W. and Barrie J. Frost. Complex spike activity of Purkinje cells in the ventral uvula and nodulus of pigeons in response to translational optic flow. J. Neurophysiol. 81: 256–266, 1999. The complex spike (CS) activity of Purkinje cells in the ventral uvula and nodulus of the vestibulocerebellum was recorded from anesthetized pigeons in response to translational optic flow. Translational optic flow was produced using a “translator” projector: a mechanical device that projected a translational optic flowfield onto the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room and encompassed the entire binocular visual field. CS activity was broadly tuned but maximally modulated in response to translational optic flow along a “best” axis. Each neuron was assigned a vector representing the direction in which the animal would need to translate to produce the optic flowfield that resulted in maximal excitation. The vector is described with reference to a standard right-handed coordinate system, where the vectors, + x, + y, and + z represent, rightward, upward, and forward translation of the animal, respectively. Neurons could be grouped into four response types based on the vector of maximal excitation. + y neurons were modulated maximally in response to a translational optic flowfield that results from self-motion upward along the vertical ( y) axis. − y neurons also responded best to translational optic flow along the vertical axis but showed the opposite direction preference. The two remaining groups responded best to translational optic flow along horizontal axes: − x + z neurons and − x− z neurons. In summary, our results suggest that the olivocerebellar system dedicated to the analysis of translational optic flow is organized according to a reference frame consisting of three approximately orthogonal axes: the vertical axis, and two horizontal axes oriented 45° to either side the midline. Previous research has shown that the rotational optic flow system, the eye muscles, the vestibular semicircular canals and the postural control system all share a similar spatial frame of reference.

Perceptual stability during active head movements orthogonal and parallel to gravity

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (4-6) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Jaekl ◽  
M. Jenkin ◽  
L.R. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Visual Motion ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Image Motion ◽  
Low Latency ◽  
Gravity Vector ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Perceptual Stability ◽  
Head Rotations

We measured how much the visual world could be moved during various head rotations and translations and still be perceived as visually stable. Using this as a monitor of how well subjects know about their own movement, we compared performance in different directions relative to gravity. For head rotations, we compared the range of visual motion judged compatible with a stable environment while rotating around an axis orthogonal to gravity (where rotation created a rotating gravity vector across the otolith macula), with judgements made when rotation was around an earth-vertical axis. For translations, we compared the corresponding range of visual motion when translation was parallel to gravity (when imposed accelerations added to or subtracted from gravity), with translations orthogonal to gravity. Ten subjects wore a head-mounted display and made active head movements at 0.5 Hz that were monitored by a low-latency mechanical tracker. Subjects adjusted the ratio between head and image motion until the display appeared perceptually stable. For neither rotation nor translation were there any differences in judgements of perceptual stability that depended on the direction of the movement with respect to the direction of gravity.

Rapid horizontal gaze movement in the monkey

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1632-1652 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. O. Phillips ◽  
L. Ling ◽  
A. F. Fuchs ◽  
C. Siebold ◽  
J. J. Plorde
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Head Movement ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Position ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Gaze Shifts ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Small Correction ◽  
Horizontal Gaze

1. We studied horizontal eye and head movements in three monkeys that were trained to direct their gaze (eye position in space) toward jumping targets while their heads were both fixed and free to rotate about a vertical axis. We considered all gaze movements that traveled > or = 80% of the distance to the new visual target. 2. The relative contributions and metrics of eye and head movements to the gaze shift varied considerably from animal to animal and even within animals. Head movements could be initiated early or late and could be large or small. The eye movements of some monkeys showed a consistent decrease in velocity as the head accelerated, whereas others did not. Although all gaze shifts were hypometric, they were more hypometric in some monkeys than in others. Nevertheless, certain features of the gaze shift were identifiable in all monkeys. To identify those we analyzed gaze, eye in head position, and head position, and their velocities at three points in time during the gaze shift: 1) when the eye had completed its initial rotation toward the target, 2) when the initial gaze shift had landed, and 3) when the head movement was finished. 3. For small gaze shifts (< 20 degrees) the initial gaze movement consisted entirely of an eye movement because the head did not move. As gaze shifts became larger, the eye movement contribution saturated at approximately 30 degrees and the head movement contributed increasingly to the initial gaze movement. For the largest gaze shifts, the eye usually began counterrolling or remained stable in the orbit before gaze landed. During the interval between eye and gaze end, the head alone carried gaze to completion. Finally, when the head movement landed, it was almost aimed at the target and the eye had returned to within 10 +/- 7 degrees, mean +/- SD, of straight ahead. Between the end of the gaze shift and the end of the head movement, gaze remained stable in space or a small correction saccade occurred. 4. Gaze movements < 20 degrees landed accurately on target whether the head was fixed or free. For larger target movements, both head-free and head-fixed gaze shifts became increasingly hypometric. Head-free gaze shifts were more accurate, on average, but also more variable. This suggests that gaze is controlled in a different way with the head free. For target amplitudes < 60 degrees, head position was hypometric but the error was rather constant at approximately 10 degrees.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

scholarly journals Behavioral Receptive Field for Ocular Following in Humans: Dynamics of Spatial Summation and Center-Surround Interactions

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 3712-3726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric V. Barthélemy ◽  
Ivo Vanzetta ◽  
Guillaume S. Masson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Neuronal Response ◽  
Spatial Summation ◽  
Visuomotor Transformations ◽  
Ocular Following ◽  
Linear Integration ◽  
Response Onset ◽  
Linear Contrast

Visual neurons integrate information over a finite part of the visual field with high selectivity. This classical receptive field is modulated by peripheral inputs that play a role in both neuronal response normalization and contextual modulations. However, the consequences of these properties for visuomotor transformations are yet incompletely understood. To explore those, we recorded short-latency ocular following responses in humans to large center-only and center-surround stimuli. We found that eye movements are triggered by a mechanism that integrates motion over a restricted portion of the visual field, the size of which depends on stimulus contrast and increases as a function of time after response onset. We also found evidence for a strong nonisodirectional center-surround organization, responsible for normalizing the central, driving input so that motor responses are set to their most linear contrast dynamics. Such response normalization is delayed about 20 ms relative to tracking onset, gradually builds up over time, and is partly tuned for surround orientation/direction. These results outline the spatiotemporal organization of a behavioral receptive field, which might reflect a linear integration among subpopulations of cortical visual motion detectors.

Pursuit and optokinetic deficits following chemical lesions of cortical areas MT and MST

1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 940-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Dursteler ◽  
R. H. Wurtz
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Ibotenic Acid ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Target Speed ◽  
Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Medial Superior Temporal ◽  
Visual Motion Processing

1. Previous experiments have shown that punctate chemical lesions within the middle temporal area (MT) of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) produce deficits in the initiation and maintenance of pursuit eye movements (10, 34). The present experiments were designed to test the effect of such chemical lesions in an area within the STS to which MT projects, the medial superior temporal area (MST). 2. We injected ibotenic acid into localized regions of MST, and we observed two deficits in pursuit eye movements, a retinotopic deficit and a directional deficit. 3. The retinotopic deficit in pursuit initiation was characterized by the monkey's inability to match eye speed to target speed or to adjust the amplitude of the saccade made to acquire the target to compensate for target motion. This deficit was related to the initiation of pursuit to targets moving in any direction in the visual field contralateral to the side of the brain with the lesion. This deficit was similar to the deficit we found following damage to extrafoveal MT except that the affected area of the visual field frequently extended throughout the entire contralateral visual field tested. 4. The directional deficit in pursuit maintenance was characterized by a failure to match eye speed to target speed once the fovea had been brought near the moving target. This deficit occurred only when the target was moving toward the side of the lesion, regardless of whether the target began to move in the ipsilateral or contralateral visual field. There was no deficit in the amplitude of saccades made to acquire the target, or in the amplitude of the catch-up saccades made to compensate for the slowed pursuit. The directional deficit is similar to the one we described previously following chemical lesions of the foveal representation in the STS. 5. Retinotopic deficits resulted from any of our injections in MST. Directional deficits resulted from lesions limited to subregions within MST, particularly lesions that invaded the floor of the STS and the posterior bank of the STS just lateral to MT. Extensive damage to the densely myelinated area of the anterior bank or to the posterior parietal area on the dorsal lip of the anterior bank produced minimal directional deficits. 6. We conclude that damage to visual motion processing in MST underlies the retinotopic pursuit deficit just as it does in MT. MST appears to be a sequential step in visual motion processing that occurs before all of the visual motion information is transmitted to the brainstem areas related to pursuit.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Location and Functional Definition of Human Visual Motion Organization Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

2011 ◽  
pp. 18-27
Author(s):  
Tianyi Yan ◽  
Jinglong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Superior Temporal Sulcus ◽  
Object Motion ◽  
Posterior Limb ◽  
Medial Superior Temporal ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Mst Neurons ◽  
Definition Of

In humans, functional imaging studies have found a homolog of the macaque motion complex, MT+, which is suggested to contain both the middle temporal (MT) and medial superior temporal (MST) areas in the ascending limb of the inferior temporal sulcus. In the macaque, the motion-sensitive MT and MST areas are adjacent in the superior temporal sulcus. Electrophysiology has identified several motion-selective regions in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) of the macaque. Two of the best-studied areas include the MT and MST areas. The MT area has strong projections to the adjacent MST area and is typically subdivided into the dorsal (MSTd) and lateral (MSTl) subregions. While MT encodes the basic elements of motion, MST has higher-order motion-processing abilities and has been implicated in the perception of both object motion and self motion. The macaque MST area has been shown to have considerably larger receptive fields than the MT area. The receptive fields of MT cells typically extend only a few degrees into the ipsilateral visual field, while MST neurons have receptive fields that extend well into the ipsilateral visual field. This study tentatively identifies these subregions as the human homologs of the macaque MT and MST areas, respectively (Fig. 1). Putative human MT and MST areas were typically located on the posterior/ventral and anterior/dorsal banks of a dorsal/posterior limb of the inferior temporal sulcus. These locations are similar to their relative positions in the macaque superior temporal sulcus.

Changes in temporal binding related to decreased vestibular input

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Nai-Yuan Nicholas Chang ◽  
Alex K. Malone ◽  
Timothy E. Hullar
Keyword(s):  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Vestibular Input ◽  
Temporal Binding ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Vestibular Hypofunction ◽  
Temporal Binding Window

Imbalance among patients with vestibular hypofunction has been related to inadequate compensatory eye movements in response to head movements. However, symptoms of imbalance might also occur due a temporal mismatch between vestibular and other balance-related sensory cues. This temporal mismatch could be reflected in a widened temporal binding window (TBW), or the length of time over which simultaneous sensory stimuli may be offset and still perceived as simultaneous. We hypothesized that decreased vestibular input would lead to a widening of the temporal binding window. We performed whole-body rotations about the earth-vertical axis following a sinusoidal trajectory at 0.5 Hz with a peak velocity of 60°/s in four normal subjects. Dichotic auditory clicks were presented through headphones at various phases relative to the rotations. Subjects were asked to indicate whether the cues were synchronous or asynchronous and the TBW was calculated. We then simulated decreased vestibular input by rotating at diminished peak velocities of 48, 24 and 12°/s in four normal subjects. TBW was calculated between ±1 SD away from the mean on the psychometric curve. We found that the TBW increases as amplitude of rotation decreases. Average TBW of 251 ms at 60°/s increased to 309 ms at 12°/s. This result leads to the novel conclusion that changes in temporal processing may be a mechanism for imbalance in patients with vestibular hypofunction.

A looming-sensitive pathway responds to changes in the trajectory of object motion

2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 1052-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glyn A. McMillan ◽  
John R. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Firing Rate ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Compound Eye ◽  
Angular Acceleration ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Object Motion ◽  
Near Miss ◽  
Movement Detector ◽  
Contralateral Movement

Two identified locust neurons, the lobula giant movement detector (LGMD) and its postsynaptic partner, the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD), constitute one motion-sensitive pathway in the visual system that responds preferentially to objects that approach on a direct collision course and are implicated in collision-avoidance behavior. Previously described responses to the approach of paired objects and approaches at different time intervals (Guest BB, Gray JR. J Neurophysiol 95: 1428–1441, 2006) suggest that this pathway may also be affected by more complicated movements in the locust's visual environment. To test this possibility we presented stationary locusts with disks traveling along combinations of colliding (looming), noncolliding (translatory), and near-miss trajectories. Distinctly different responses to different trajectories and trajectory changes demonstrate that DCMD responds to complex aspects of local visual motion. DCMD peak firing rates associated with the time of collision remained relatively invariant after a trajectory change from translation to looming. Translatory motion initiated in the frontal visual field generated a larger peak firing rate relative to object motion initiated in the posterior visual field, and the peak varied with simulated distance from the eye. Transition from translation to looming produced a transient decrease in the firing rate, whereas transition away from looming produced a transient increase. The change in firing rate at the time of transition was strongly correlated with unique expansion parameters described by the instantaneous angular acceleration of the leading edge and subtense angle of the disk. However, response time remained invariant. While these results may reflect low spatial resolution of the compound eye, they also suggest that this motion-sensitive pathway may be capable of monitoring dynamic expansion properties of objects that change the trajectory of motion.

Spatial organization of visual messages of the rabbit's cerebellar flocculus. II. Complex and simple spike responses of Purkinje cells

1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 2091-2121 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Graf ◽  
J. I. Simpson ◽  
C. S. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Purkinje Cells ◽  
Horizontal Plane ◽  
Rotation Axis ◽  
Modulation Depth ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Axis Orientation ◽  
Complex Spike ◽  
Full Field ◽  
Simple Spike ◽  
Dominant Eye

1. Complex and simple spike responses of Purkinje cells were recorded in the flocculus of anesthetized, paralyzed rabbits during rotating full-field visual stimuli produced by a three-axis planetarium projector. 2. On the basis of the spatial properties of their complex spike responses, floccular Purkinje cells could be placed into three distinct classes called Vertical Axis, Anterior (45 degrees) Axis and Posterior (135 degrees) Axis. The first two classes occurred in both monocular and binocular forms; the third class was encountered only in binocular form. For the binocular response forms, stimulation through one eye, called the dominant eye, elicited a stronger modulation of the complex spike firing rate than did stimulation of the other eye. The approximate orientation of that axis about which full-field rotation elicited the deepest modulation (the preferred axis) when presented to the dominant eye served as the class label. These classes are the same as those determined qualitatively for inferior olive neurons in the previous paper (47). The present study provides a quantitative description of their spatial tuning. 3. For Vertical Axis cells, the dominant eye was ipsilateral with respect to the flocculus recording site. The preferred axis was vertical and null (no-response) axes were in the horizontal plane. For the binocular response form of Vertical Axis cells (less than 10% of this class), the direction preferences for the two eyes were synergistic with respect to rotation about the vertical axis. 4. The dominant eye for the Anterior (45 degrees) Axis cells was contralateral, with the preferred axis oriented in the horizontal plane at approximately 45 degrees contralateral azimuth. The modulation depth showed a close to cosine relation with the angle between the preferred axis and the stimulus rotation axis. The average orientation (n = 10) for the dominant eye preferred axis, determined by the best-fit sinusoid, was 47 degrees contralateral azimuth. The preferred axis orientation for the ipsilateral (nondominant) eye in the binocular response forms was between 45 and 90 degrees azimuth in the horizontal plane. A null axis for each eye was at approximately 90 degrees to the preferred axis. 5. The Posterior (135 degrees) Axis cells were encountered only in binocular response forms. The dominant eye was ipsilateral, with the preferred axis oriented at approximately 135 degrees ipsilateral azimuth close to the horizontal plane. The modulation depth showed a close to cosine relation with the angle between the preferred axis and the stimulus rotation axis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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