Vestibular Convergence Patterns in Vestibular Nuclei Neurons of Alert Primates

2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 3518-3533 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Dickman ◽  
Dora E. Angelaki
Keyword(s):  
Body Movement ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Vestibular Nuclei ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Maximum Sensitivity ◽  
Otolith Organs ◽  
Response Dynamics ◽  
Central Neurons

Sensory signal convergence is a fundamental and important aspect of brain function. Such convergence may often involve complex multidimensional interactions as those proposed for the processing of otolith and semicircular canal (SCC) information for the detection of translational head movements and the effective discrimination from physically congruent gravity signals. In the present study, we have examined the responses of primate rostral vestibular nuclei (VN) neurons that do not exhibit any eye movement-related activity using 0.5-Hz translational and three-dimensional (3D) rotational motion. Three distinct neural populations were identified. Approximately one-fourth of the cells exclusively encoded rotational movements (canal-only neurons) and were unresponsive to translation. The canal-only central neurons encoded head rotation in SCC coordinates, exhibited little orthogonal canal convergence, and were characterized with significantly higher sensitivities to rotation as compared to primary SCC afferents. Another fourth of the neurons modulated their firing rates during translation (otolith-only cells). During rotations, these neurons only responded when the axis of rotation was earth-horizontal and the head was changing orientation relative to gravity. The remaining one-half of VN neurons were sensitive to both rotations and translations (otolith + canal neurons). Unlike primary otolith afferents, however, central neurons often exhibited significant spatiotemporal (noncosine) tuning properties and a wide variety of response dynamics to translation. To characterize the pattern of SCC inputs to otolith + canal neurons, their rotational maximum sensitivity vectors were computed using exclusively responses during earth-vertical axis rotations (EVA). Maximum sensitivity vectors were distributed throughout the 3D space, suggesting strong convergence from multiple SCCs. These neurons were also tested with earth-horizontal axis rotations (EHA), which would activate both vertical canals and otolith organs. However, the recorded responses could not be predicted from a linear combination of EVA rotational and translational responses. In contrast, one-third of the neurons responded similarly during EVA and EHA rotations, although a significant response modulation was present during translation. Thus this subpopulation of otolith + canal cells, which included neurons with either high- or low-pass dynamics to translation, appear to selectively ignore the component of otolith-selective activation that is due to changes in the orientation of the head relative to gravity. Thus contrary to primary otolith afferents and otolith-only central neurons that respond equivalently to tilts relative to gravity and translational movements, approximately one-third of the otolith + canal cells seem to encode a true estimate of the translational component of the imposed passive head and body movement.

Gravity or translation: Central processing of vestibular signals to detect motion or tilt

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (4-6) ◽  
pp. 245-253
Author(s):  
Dora E. Angelaki ◽  
J. David Dickman
Keyword(s):  
Normal Gravity ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Semicircular Canals ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Vestibular Nuclei ◽  
Altered Gravity ◽  
Central Processing ◽  
Central Neurons ◽  
3D Space ◽  
Small Subpopulation

The processing and detection of tilts relative to gravity from actual motion (translational accelerations) is one of the most fundamental issues for understanding vestibular sensorimotor control in altered gravity environments. In order to better understand the nature of multisensory signals in detecting motion and tilt, we summarize here our recent studies regarding the central processing of vestibular signals during multi-axis rotational and translational stimuli. Approximately one fourth of the cells in the vestibular nuclei exclusively encoded rotational movements (Canal-Only neurons) and were unresponsive to translation. The Canal-Only central neurons encoded head rotation in canal afferent coordinates, exhibited no orthogonal canal convergence and were characterized by significantly higher sensitivities to rotation as compared to canal afferents. Another fourth of the neurons modulated their firing rates during translation (Otolith-Only cells). During rotations, these neurons typically only responded when the axis of rotation was earth-horizontal and the head was changing orientation relative to gravity. The remaining cells (approximately half of total population) were sensitive to both rotations and translations (Otolith+Canal neurons). Maximum sensitivity vectors to rotation were distributed throughout the 3D space, suggesting strong convergence from multiple semicircular canals. Only a small subpopulation (approximately one third) of these Otolith+Canal neurons seems to encode a true estimate of the translational component of the imposed passive head and body movement. These results provide the first step in further understanding multisensory convergence in normal gravity, as this task is fundamental to our appreciation of neurovestibular adaptation to altered gravity.

Convergent Properties of Vestibular-Related Brain Stem Neurons in the Gerbil

2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 1958-1971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galen D. Kaufman ◽  
Michael E. Shinder ◽  
Adrian A. Perachio
Keyword(s):  
Translational Motion ◽  
Stimulus Frequency ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Vestibular Nuclei ◽  
Inhibitory Input ◽  
Type I ◽  
Similar Response ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Response Dynamics ◽  
Related Activity

Three classes of vestibular-related neurons were found in and near the prepositus and medial vestibular nuclei of alert or decerebrate gerbils, those responding to: horizontal translational motion, horizontal head rotation, or both. Their distribution ratios were 1:2:2, respectively. Many cells responsive to translational motion exhibited spatiotemporal characteristics with both response gain and phase varying as a function of the stimulus vector angle. Rotationally sensitive neurons were distributed as Type I, II, or III responses (sensitive to ipsilateral, contralateral, or both directions, respectively) in the ratios of 4:6:1. Four tested factors shaped the response dynamics of the sampled neurons: canal-otolith convergence, oculomotor-related activity, rotational Type (I or II), and the phase of the maximum response. Type I nonconvergent cells displayed increasing gains with increasing rotational stimulus frequency (0.1–2.0 Hz, 60°/s), whereas Type II neurons with convergent inputs had response gains that markedly decreased with increasing translational stimulus frequency (0.25–2.0 Hz, ±0.1 g). Type I convergent and Type II nonconvergent neurons exhibited essentially flat gains across the stimulus frequency range. Oculomotor-related activity was noted in 30% of the cells across all functional types, appearing as burst/pause discharge patterns related to the fast phase of nystagmus during head rotation. Oculomotor-related activity was correlated with enhanced dynamic range compared with the same category that had no oculomotor-related response. Finally, responses that were in-phase with head velocity during rotation exhibited greater gains with stimulus frequency increments than neurons with out-of-phase responses. In contrast, for translational motion, neurons out of phase with head acceleration exhibited low-pass characteristics, whereas in-phase neurons did not. Data from decerebrate preparations revealed that although similar response types could be detected, the sampled cells generally had lower background discharge rates, on average one-third lower response gains, and convergent properties that differed from those found in the alert animals. On the basis of the dynamic response of identified cell types, we propose a pair of models in which inhibitory input from vestibular-related neurons converges on oculomotor neurons with excitatory inputs from the vestibular nuclei. Simple signal convergence and combinations of different types of vestibular labyrinth information can enrich the dynamic characteristics of the rotational and translational vestibuloocular responses.

Eye-head coordination during large gaze shifts

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 766-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Tweed ◽  
B. Glenn ◽  
T. Vilis
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Gaze Shifts ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Vertical Movements ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Acceleration And Deceleration

1. Three-dimensional (3D) eye and head rotations were measured with the use of the magnetic search coil technique in six healthy human subjects as they made large gaze shifts. The aims of this study were 1) to see whether the kinematic rules that constrain eye and head orientations to two degrees of freedom between saccades also hold during movements; 2) to chart the curvature and looping in eye and head trajectories; and 3) to assess whether the timing and paths of eye and head movements are more compatible with a single gaze error command driving both movements, or with two different feedback loops. 2. Static orientations of the eye and head relative to space are known to resemble the distribution that would be generated by a Fick gimbal (a horizontal axis moving on a fixed vertical axis). We show that gaze point trajectories during eye-head gaze shifts fit the Fick gimbal pattern, with horizontal movements following straight "line of latitude" paths and vertical movements curving like lines of longitude. However, horizontal (and to a lesser extent vertical) movements showed direction-dependent looping, with rightward and leftward (and up and down) saccades tracing slightly different paths. Plots of facing direction (the analogue of gaze direction for the head) also showed the latitude/longitude pattern, without looping. In radial saccades, the gaze point initially moved more vertically than the target direction and then curved; head trajectories were straight. 3. The eye and head components of randomly sequenced gaze shifts were not time locked to one another. The head could start moving at any time from slightly before the eye until 200 ms after, and the standard deviation of this interval could be as large as 80 ms. The head continued moving for a long (up to 400 ms) and highly variable time after the gaze error had fallen to zero. For repeated saccades between the same targets, peak eye and head velocities were directly, but very weakly, correlated; fast eye movements could accompany slow head movements and vice versa. Peak head acceleration and deceleration were also very weakly correlated with eye velocity. Further, the head rotated about an essentially fixed axis, with a smooth bell-shaped velocity profile, whereas the axis of eye rotation relative to the head varied throughout the movement and the velocity profiles were more ragged. 4. Plots of 3D eye orientation revealed strong and consistent looping in eye trajectories relative to space.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

scholarly journals Self-Motion Signals in Vestibular Nuclei Neurons Projecting to the Thalamus in the Alert Squirrel Monkey

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 1730-1741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Marlinski ◽  
Robert A. McCrea
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Vestibular Nuclei ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Stimulus Velocity ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
Head Rotations ◽  
Stimulation Of

Sixty vestibular nuclei neurons antidromically activated by electrical stimulation of the ventroposterior thalamus were recorded in two alert squirrel monkeys. The majority of these neurons were monosynaptically activated by vestibular nerve electrical stimulation. Forty-seven neurons responded to animal rotations around the earth-vertical axis; 16 of them also responded to translations in the horizontal plane. The mean sensitivity to 0.5-Hz rotations of 80°/s velocity was 0.40 ± 0.31 spikes·s−1·deg−1·s−1. Rotational responses were in phase with stimulus velocity. Sensitivities to 0.5-Hz translations of 0.1 g acceleration varied from 92.2 to 359 spikes·s−1· g−1 and response phases varied from 10.1° lead to −98° lag. The firing behavior in 28 neurons was studied during rotation of the whole animal, of the trunk, and voluntary and involuntary rotations of the head. Two classes of vestibulothalamic neurons were distinguished. One class of neurons generated signals related to movement of the head that were similar either when the head and trunk move together or when the head moves on the stationary trunk. A fraction of these neurons fired during involuntary head movements only. A second class of neurons generated signals related to movement of the trunk. They responded when the trunk moved alone or simultaneously with the head, but did not respond to head rotations while the trunk was stationary.

Neck Muscle Synergies During Stimulation and Inactivation of the Interstitial Nucleus of Cajal (INC)

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 1677-1685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshad Farshadmanesh ◽  
Pengfei Chang ◽  
Hongying Wang ◽  
Xiaogang Yan ◽  
Brian D. Corneil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Muscle Synergies ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Interstitial Nucleus Of Cajal ◽  
Splenius Capitis ◽  
The Relationship

The interstitial nucleus of Cajal (INC) is thought to control torsional and vertical head posture. Unilateral microstimulation of the INC evokes torsional head rotation to positions that are maintained until stimulation offset. Unilateral INC inactivation evokes head position-holding deficits with the head tilted in the opposite direction. However, the underlying muscle synergies for these opposite behavioral effects are unknown. Here, we examined neck muscle activity in head-unrestrained monkeys before and during stimulation (50 μA, 200 ms, 300 Hz) and inactivation (injection of 0.3 μl of 0.05% muscimol) of the same INC sites. Three-dimensional eye and head movements were recorded simultaneously with electromyographic (EMG) activity in six bilateral neck muscles: sternocleidomastoid (SCM), splenius capitis (SP), rectus capitis posterior major (RCPmaj.), occipital capitis inferior (OCI), complexus (COM), and biventer cervicis (BC). INC stimulation evoked a phasic, short-latency (∼5–10 ms) facilitation and later (∼100–200 ms) a more tonic facilitation in the activity of ipsi-SCM, ipsi-SP, ipsi-COM, ipsi-BC, contra-RCPmaj., and contra-OCI. Unilateral INC inactivation led to an increase in the activity of contra-SCM, ipsi-SP, ipsi-RCPmaj., and ipsi-OCI and a decrease in the activity of contra-RCPmaj. and contra-OCI. Thus the influence of INC stimulation and inactivation were opposite on some muscles (i.e., contra-OCI and contra-RCPmaj.), but the comparative influences on other neck muscles were more variable. These results show that the relationship between the neck muscle responses during INC stimulation and inactivation is much more complex than the relationship between the overt behaviors.

scholarly journals Sensory Basis and Functional Role of Eye Movements Elicited During Locomotion in the Land Crab Cardisoma Guanhumi

1990 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. JON P. BARNES ◽  
P. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Image Motion ◽  
Optokinetic Responses ◽  
Land Crabs ◽  
Cardisoma Guanhumi

Eye movements in the horizontal plane and the rotatory component of body movement have been continuously recorded in land crabs, Cardisoma guanhumi Latreille, walking freely in an arena. The results show that the eyes compensate for locomotor turns by moving in the opposite direction to the body, thus reducing the image motion of surrounding objects on the retina. Gains often approach unity, so that stabilization of the rotatory component of self-generated image motion is good. Of the three compensatory eye reflexes that could contribute to these responses, optokinetic responses play a major role, since the gain of the responses of freely walking blinded crabs was about half that of crabs that could see. Since blinded crabs held above a ball moved their eyes whenever they rotated the ball about a vertical axis (i.e. turned), a significant role for leg proprioceptor-driven eye movements is also presumed. It is unclear whether vestibular nystagmus, driven by the statocysts, also has a role to play. In contrast to the high-gain compensatory responses that accompany turns, the translatory component of locomotion elicits compensatory eye movements only under the most favourable circumstances, when the crab walks along a runway facing a set of stripes. Even then, the responses are of very low gain (0.02-0.09). Amongst several possible factors, this is partly because lateral ommatidia, which drive the optokinetic responses, will face the poles of the flow field during sideways walking, and partly because stationary contrasts (as occur at the poles of the flow field) reduce the gain of optokinetic responses. It is argued that, by compensating for turns but not translatory locomotor movements, crabs effectively separate the rotatory from the translatory components of the visual flow field around them. Since only the former can be used in course control, while only the latter provides information on ground speed and the three-dimensional layout of the environment, such a separation makes good functional sense.

Properties of sympathetic reflexes elicited by natural vestibular stimulation: implications for cardiovascular control

1994 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 2087-2092 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Yates ◽  
A. D. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Head Rotation ◽  
Splanchnic Nerve ◽  
Vestibular Nuclei ◽  
Vestibular Stimulation ◽  
Similar Response ◽  
Response Dynamics ◽  
Upper Cervical ◽  
Sympathetic Reflexes ◽  
Vector Orientation ◽  
Vestibulosympathetic Reflexes

1. To study the properties of vestibulosympathetic reflexes we recorded outflow from the splanchnic nerve during natural vestibular stimulation in multiple vertical planes in decerebrate cats. Most of the animals were cerebellectomized, although some responses were recorded in cerebellum-intact preparations. Vestibular stimulation was produced by rotating the head in animals whose upper cervical dorsal roots were transected to remove inputs from neck receptors; a baroreceptor denervation and vagotomy were also performed to remove visceral inputs. 2. The plane of head rotation that produced maximal modulation of splanchnic nerve activity (response vector orientation) was measured at 0.2–0.5 Hz. The dynamics of the response were then studied with sinusoidal (0.05- to 1-Hz) stimuli aligned with this orientation. 3. Typically, maximal modulation of splanchnic nerve outflow was elicited by head rotations in a plane near pitch; nose-up rotations produced increased outflow and nose-down rotations reduced nerve discharges. The gains of the responses remained relatively constant across stimulus frequencies and the phases were consistently near stimulus position, like regularly firing otolith afferents. Similar response dynamics were recorded in cerebellectomized and cerebellum-intact animals. 4. The splanchnic nerve responses to head rotation could be abolished by microinjections of the excitotoxin kainic acid into the medial and inferior vestibular nuclei, which is concordant with the responses resulting from activation of vestibular receptors. 5. The properties fo vestibulosympathetic reflexes recorded from the splanchnic nerve support the hypothesis that the vestibular system participates in compensating for posturally related changes in blood pressure.

Integration of Vestibular and Head Movement Signals in the Vestibular Nuclei During Whole-Body Rotation

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 436-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg T. Gdowski ◽  
Robert A. McCrea
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Head Rotation ◽  
Vestibular Nuclei ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Body Rotation ◽  
Horizontal Semicircular Canal ◽  
Head Velocity ◽  
Vestibular Neurons ◽  
Single Unit Recordings

Single-unit recordings were obtained from 107 horizontal semicircular canal-related central vestibular neurons in three alert squirrel monkeys during passive sinusoidal whole-body rotation (WBR) while the head was free to move in the yaw plane (2.3 Hz, 20°/s). Most of the units were identified as secondary vestibular neurons by electrical stimulation of the ipsilateral vestibular nerve (61/80 tested). Both non–eye-movement ( n = 52) and eye-movement–related ( n = 55) units were studied. Unit responses recorded when the head was free to move were compared with responses recorded when the head was restrained from moving. WBR in the absence of a visual target evoked a compensatory vestibulocollic reflex (VCR) that effectively reduced the head velocity in space by an average of 33 ± 14%. In 73 units, the compensatory head movements were sufficiently large to permit the effect of the VCR on vestibular signal processing to be assessed quantitatively. The VCR affected the rotational responses of different vestibular neurons in different ways. Approximately one-half of the units (34/73, 47%) had responses that decreased as head velocity decreased. However, the responses of many other units (24/73) showed little change. These cells had signals that were better correlated with trunk velocity than with head velocity. The remaining units had responses that were significantly larger (15/73, 21%) when the VCR produced a decrease in head velocity. Eye-movement–related units tended to have rotational responses that were correlated with head velocity. On the other hand, non–eye-movement units tended to have rotational responses that were better correlated with trunk velocity. We conclude that sensory vestibular signals are transformed from head-in-space coordinates to trunk-in-space coordinates on many secondary vestibular neurons in the vestibular nuclei by the addition of inputs related to head rotation on the trunk. This coordinate transformation is presumably important for controlling postural reflexes and constructing a central percept of body orientation and movement in space.

Visually Induced Adaptation in Three-Dimensional Organization of Primate Vestibuloocular Reflex

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 791-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dora E. Angelaki ◽  
Bernhard J. M. Hess
Keyword(s):  
Oscillation Frequency ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Horizontal Axis ◽  
Vestibuloocular Reflex ◽  
Head Velocity ◽  
Ocular System

Angelaki, Dora E. and Bernhard J. M. Hess. Visually induced adaptation in three-dimensional organization of primate vestibulo-ocular reflex. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 791–807, 1998. The adaptive plasticity of the spatial organization of the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) has been investigated in intact and canal-plugged primates using 2-h exposure to conflicting visual (optokinetic, OKN) and vestibular rotational stimuli about mutually orthogonal axes (generating torsional VOR + vertical OKN, torsional VOR + horizontal OKN, vertical VOR + horizontal OKN, and horizontal VOR + vertical OKN). Adaptation protocols with 0.5-Hz (±18°) head movements about either an earth-vertical or an earth-horizontal axis induced orthogonal response components as high as 40–70% of those required for ideal adaptation. Orthogonal response gains were highest at the adapting frequency with phase leads present at lower and phase lags present at higher frequencies. Furthermore, the time course of adaptation, as well as orthogonal response dynamics were similar and relatively independent of the particular visual/vestibular stimulus combination. Low-frequency (0.05 Hz, vestibular stimulus: ±60°; optokinetic stimulus: ±180°) adaptation protocols with head movements about an earth-vertical axis induced smaller orthogonal response components that did not exceed 20–40% of the head velocity stimulus (i.e., ∼10% of that required for ideal adaptation). At the same frequency, adaptation with head movements about an earth-horizontal axis generated large orthogonal responses that reached values as high as 100–120% of head velocity after 2 h of adaptation (i.e., ∼40% of ideal adaptation gains). The particular spatial and temporal response characteristics after low-frequency, earth-horizontal axis adaptation in both intact and canal-plugged animals strongly suggests that the orienting (and perhaps translational) but not inertial (velocity storage) components of the primate otolith-ocular system exhibit spatial adaptability. Due to the particular nested arrangement of the visual and vestibular stimuli, the optic flow pattern exhibited a significant component about the third spatial axis (i.e., orthogonal to the axes of rotation of the head and visual surround) at twice the oscillation frequency. Accordingly, the adapted VOR was characterized consistently by a third response component (orthogonal to both the axes of head and optokinetic drum rotation) at twice the oscillation frequency after earth-horizontal but not after earth-vertical axis 0.05-Hz adaptation. This suggests that the otolith-ocular (but not the semicircular canal-ocular) system can adaptively change its spatial organization at frequencies different from those of the head movement.

Response of vestibular neurons to head rotations in vertical planes. II. Response to neck stimulation and vestibular-neck interaction

1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1765-1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kasper ◽  
R. H. Schor ◽  
V. J. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Head Rotation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Body Tilt ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Vestibular Input ◽  
Response Dynamics ◽  
Neck Input ◽  
Wide Range

1. We have studied the responses of neurons in the lateral and descending vestibular nuclei of decerebrate cats to stimulation of neck receptors, produced by rotating the body in vertical planes with the head stationary. The responses to such neck stimulation were compared with the responses to vestibular stimulation produced by whole-body tilt, described in the preceding paper. 2. After determining the optimal vertical plane of neck rotation (response vector orientation), the dynamics of the neck response were studied over a frequency range of 0.02-1 Hz. The majority of the neurons were excited by neck rotations that brought the chin toward the ipsilateral side; most neurons responded better to roll than to pitch rotations. The typical neck response showed a low-frequency phase lead of 30 degrees, increasing to 60 degrees at higher frequencies, and a gain that increased about threefold per decade. 3. Neck input was found in about one-half of the vestibular-responsive neurons tested with vertical rotations. The presence of a neck response was correlated with the predominant vestibular input to these neurons; neck input was most prevalent on neurons with vestibular vector orientations near roll and receiving convergent vestibular input, either input from both ipsilateral vertical semicircular canals, or from canals plus the otolith organs. 4. Neurons with both vestibular and neck responses tend to have the respective orientation vectors pointing in opposite directions, i.e., a head tilt that produces an excitatory vestibular response would produce an inhibitory neck response. In addition, the gain components of these responses were similar. These results suggest that during head movements on a stationary body, these opposing neck and vestibular inputs will cancel each other. 5. Cancellation was observed in 12 out of 27 neurons tested with head rotation in the mid-frequency range. For most of the remaining neurons, the response to such a combined stimulus was greatly attenuated: the vestibular and neck interaction was largely antagonistic. 6. Neck response dynamics were similar to those of the vestibular input in many neurons, permitting cancellation to take place over a wide range of stimulus frequencies. Another pattern of interaction, observed in some neurons with canal input, produced responses to head rotation that had a relatively constant gain and remained in phase with position over the entire frequency range; such neurons possibly code head position in space.

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