Eye movements have attracted an unusually large number of researchers from many disparate fields, especially over the past 35 years. The lure of this system stemmed from its apparent simplicity of description, measurement, and analysis, as well as the promise of providing a "window in the mind." Investigators in areas ranging from biological control systems and neurological diagnosis to applications in advertising and flight simulation expected eye movements to provide clear indicators of what the sensory-motor system was accomplishing and what the brain found to be of interest. The parallels between compensatory eye movements and perception of spatial orientation have been a subject for active study in visual-vestibular interaction, where substantial knowledge has accumulated through experiments largely guided by the challenge of proving or disproving model predictions. Even though oculomotor control has arguably benefited more from systems theory than any other branch of motor control, many of the original goals remain largely unfulfilled. This paper considers some of the promising potential benefits of eye movement research and compares accomplishments with anticipated results. Four topics are considered in greater detail: (i) the definition of oculomotor system input and output, (ii) optimization of the eye movement system, (iii) the relationship between compensatory eye movements and spatial orientation through the "internal model," and (iv) the significance of eye movements as measured in (outer) space.

Aerospace Medicine↗

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Effects of orbital space flight on vestibular reflexes and perception.

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Adaptation, Physiological↗

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Artificial gravity: head movements during short-radius centrifugation.

Short-radius centrifugation is a potential countermeasure to long-term weightlessness. Unfortunately, head movements in a rotating environment induce serious discomfort, non-compensatory vestibulo-ocular reflexes, and subjective illusions of body tilt. In two experiments we investigated the effects of pitch and yaw head movements in participants placed supine on a rotating bed with their head at the center of rotation, feet at the rim. The vast majority of participants experienced motion sickness, inappropriate vertical nystagmus and illusory tilt and roll as predicted by a semicircular canal model. However, a small but significant number of the 28 participants experienced tilt in the predicted plane but in the opposite direction. Heart rate was elevated following one-second duration head turns. Significant adaptation occurred following a series of head turns in the light. Vertical nystagmus, motion sickness and illusory tilt all decreased with adaptation. Consequences for artificial gravity produced by short-radius centrifuges as a countermeasure are discussed. Grant numbers: NCC 9-58.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

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Farm background, socioeconomic status, and fertility: the two-generation hypothesis.

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Aged↗

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Selective habituation of vestibular nystagmus by visual stimulation in the monkey.

Four monkeys were exposed to a series of unidirectional rotating visual fields, of the type known to produce circularvection in man. As in the human case, the vestibulo-ocular reflex for rotation in the direction of the optokinetic nystagmus and circularvection during the preceding visual stimulation--was markedly decreased following that visual stimulation, whereas that in the opposite direction was increased. This finding corresponds to the results of nystagmus and psychophysical circularvection experiments on man. It suggests a link between single unit studies performed under identical conditions in monkey and psychophysical investigations.

Animals↗

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Subjective detection of vertical acceleration: a velocity-dependent response?

Human subjective thresholds and directional sensitivity were investigated as a function of vertical linear acceleration with head erect. A hyperbolic (r=0.94) relation emerged between threshold latency and acceleration magnitude (range 0.005 to 0.06 g). This implies that detection was determined by attainment of a given velocity (21.6+/-2.65 cm/sec) rather than the acceleration magnitude per se. Re-analysis of previous data from horizontal accelerations conducted with head erect and supine revealed similar hyperbolic relations (r=0.98 in both cases) with velocity constants of 22.6+/-1.28 and 32.4+1.96 cm/sec respectively. From these findings it is inferred that with head erect (i.e. normal attitude re gravity) the thresholds to predominantly utricular (horizontal accel.) and saccular (vert. accel.) stimulation were similar (P greater than 0.7). However, with head "supine" the saccular threshold was increased to approx. 1.5Xnormal (P less than 0.001). The results also confirmed a previously reported difficulty in the subjective detection of the direction of vertical movement.

Acceleration↗

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Sensorimotor aspects of high-speed artificial gravity: II. The effect of head position on illusory self motion.

The effects of cross-coupled stimuli on the semicircular canals are shown to be influenced by the position of the subject's head with respect to gravity and the axis of rotation, but not by the subject's head position relative to the trunk. Seventeen healthy subjects made head yaw movements out of the horizontal plane while lying on a horizontal platform (MIT short radius centrifuge) rotating at 23 rpm about an earth-vertical axis. The subjects reported the magnitude and duration of the illusory pitch or roll sensations elicited by the cross-coupled rotational stimuli acting on the semicircular canals. The results suggest an influence of head position relative to gravity. The magnitude estimation is higher and the sensation decays more slowly when the head's final position is toward nose-up (gravity in the subject's head x-z-plane) compared to when the head is turned toward the side (gravity in the subject's head y-z-plane). The results are discussed with respect to artificial gravity in space and the possible role of pre-adaptation to cross-coupled angular accelerations on earth.

Adolescent↗