Human subjects were asked to "fixate" an earth-stationary target, in complete darkness, either during or after a brief passive head rotation. During head rotation saccadic eye movements synergistically improved compensatory slow-phase vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) stabilization. Visual-vestibular conflict that adaptively attenuated VOR gain caused the combined saccadic and slow-phase response to undercompensate for head rotation. Saccades volitionally generated after the cessation of head rotation (Vestibular Memory-Contingent Saccades, VMCS), successfully acquired the earth-fixed target, indicating that perceived vestibular information has access to the saccade generating mechanism. The above adaptive stimulus contracted the amplitude of VMCSs, suggesting a commensurate modification of the percept of self-movement relative to space. VMCSs displayed a "range effect", slightly biasing all results towards the mid-range amplitude. A schema is proposed implicating the posterior parietal cortex in the perception of vestibular input, the control of gaze and their adaptive modification.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.75888 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Bloomberg, Jacob |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Physiology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000911000, proquestno: AAINL52201, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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