A reexamination of the gain of the vestibuloocular reflex

Abstract

The properties of the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) when the axis of rotation is behind the eyes and fixation of a near target is required were studied in the monkey. The magnitude of VOR gain in each eye was found to be above 1.0 and near the ideal value for stabilizing a retinal image. Evidence that this large VOR gain was not visually mediated was provided by the observations that no reduction in gain and no phase lag were observed at high frequencies of head rotation (2 Hz), large gain was observed in the dark, and large gain was observed within 10-20 ms of the start of head rotation. The magnitude of VOR gain was found to increase with increasing radius of head rotation and also to increase with decreasing target distance. When the distances from the two eyes to the target were different the instantaneous velocities and VOR gains of the eyes were also different. The dependence on radius of rotation indicates that the VOR is mediated by a combination of otolith and canal inputs. A general model for otolith-canal interaction is proposed in which VOR gain is based on a computation of target location relative to the head. This model simplifies to the classical VOR reflex when a cyclopean eye is subjected only to angular displacement.