Directional preponderance of vertical eye movements induced by cross-axis adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in the cat

Abstract: Objective: We examined the emerging vertical component after cross-axis vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) adaptation. Methods: For the adaptive conditioning, the whole body of a subject was rotated horizontally while a visual pattern was rotated vertically for 1h. Results: During the conditioning period, the vertical component in response to the vertical visual stimulation was an up-down asymmetric, and its amplitude gradually increased as the stimulus progressed. After conditioning, the direction of VOR was changed via an emerging vertical component during horizontal head rotation in total darkness. Even though the retinal slip-velocity was greater for downward than for upward during the conditioning period, the emerging upward component was significantly larger than the emerging downward component. Conclusion: These results may be helpful for developing an optimal vestibular-compensation system by visual–vestibular mismatch/optokinetic training. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]