The effect of habituation and plane of rotation on vestibular perceptual responses

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 193-200
Author(s):  
E.A. Grunfeld ◽  
T. Okada ◽  
K. Jáuregui-Renaud ◽  
A.M. Bronstein
Keyword(s):  
Angular Velocity ◽  
Median Time ◽  
Time Constant ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Position ◽  
Velocity Storage ◽  
Optokinetic Stimulation ◽  
Axis Of Rotation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Head Roll

A technique was applied to assess vestibular sensation without reference to external spatial, position cues. The stimuli were stopping responses to velocity-steps of 90 deg/s in the dark. Subjects indicated their perceived angular velocity by turning a flywheel connected to a tachogenerator. Two separate experiments were conducted. In one, subjects were rotated in yaw about an earth-vertical axis before and after prolonged rotational or visual (optokinetic) stimuli. In the second experiment, subjects were rotated in roll supine, with either the head (`roll centred') or the feet (`roll eccentric') on the axis of rotation. The two aims of the paper were to (i) examine the effect of repetitive vestibular and optokinetic stimulation on the time constant of decay of vestibular sensation in yaw; (ii) to compare vestibular sensation responses to rotation in roll both with and without the addition of a Z-axis centrifugal force. The pre-habituation sensation response in yaw decayed exponentially with a median time constant of 12.8 s. The duration of the sensation responses were significantly reduced following both prolonged vestibular and optokinetic stimulation. The reduction in vestibular responses following prolonged visual and vestibular stimuli, 1) is likely to occur in velocity storage mechanisms mediating ocular and perceptual responses, 2) may represent a mechanism for reducing the disorientating consequences of visual-vestibular conflict and 3) supports the use of optokinetic stimuli as a treatment for vestibular patients. The time constant of the sensation responses in roll was shorter and not significantly influenced by head position: 5.7 s in the head-centred position compared to 4.7 s in the eccentric head position. Therefore, perceptual as well as ocular responses to rotation in roll are determined primarily by cupula dynamics and not influenced by velocity storage.

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

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 283-289
Author(s):  
Fred W. Mast ◽  
Nathaniel J. Newby ◽  
Laurence R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Horizontal Plane ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Semicircular Canals ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Position ◽  
Artificial Gravity ◽  
Axis Of Rotation ◽  
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.

Contribution of Vestibular Commissural Pathways to Spatial Orientation of the Angular Vestibuloocular Reflex

1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 1193-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Wearne ◽  
Theodore Raphan ◽  
Bernard Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Semicircular Canal ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Vestibular Stimulation ◽  
Velocity Storage ◽  
Vestibuloocular Reflex ◽  
Time Constants ◽  
Commissural Pathways ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Axis Rotation

Wearne, Susan, Theodore Raphan, and Bernard Cohen. Contribution of vestibular commissural pathways to spatial orientation of the angular vestibuloocular reflex. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 1193–1197, 1997. During nystagmus induced by the angular vestibuloocular reflex (aVOR), the axis of eye velocity tends to align with the direction of gravitoinertial acceleration (GIA), a process we term “spatial orientation of the aVOR.” We studied spatial orientation of the aVOR in rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys before and after midline section of the rostral medulla abolished all oculomotor functions related to velocity storage, leaving the direct optokinetic and vestibular pathways intact. Optokinetic afternystagmus and the bias component of off-vertical-axis rotation were lost, and the aVOR time constant was reduced to a value commensurate with the time constants of primary semicircular canal afferents. Spatial orientation of the aVOR, induced either during optokinetic or vestibular stimulation, was also lost. Vertical and roll aVOR time constants could no longer be lengthened in side-down or supine/prone positions, and static and dynamic tilts of the GIA no longer produced cross-coupling from the yaw to pitch and yaw to roll axes. Consequently, the induced nystagmus remained entirely in head coordinates after the lesion, regardless of the direction of the resultant GIA vector. Gains of the aVOR and of optokinetic nystagmus to steps of velocity were unaffected or slightly increased. These results are consistent with a model in which the direct aVOR pathways are organized in semicircular canal coordinates and spatial orientation is restricted to the indirect (velocity storage) pathways.

Forces on bodies moving transversely through a rotating fluid

1975 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 577-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Angular Velocity ◽  
Rigid Body ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Rotating Fluid ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Relative Direction ◽  
Axis Of Rotation

Measurements have been made of the net force F acting on a bluff rigid body moving with velocity U (relative to a fluid rotating about a vertical axis with uniform angular velocity Ω) in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The force F is of magnitude 2ΩρVU, where ρ is the density of the fluid and V is a volume which depends on the size and shape of the body. The relative direction of F and U is found to depend on the quantity \[ {\cal S}\equiv \frac{2\Omega L}{U}\bigg(\frac{h}{D}\bigg), \] where L and h are horizontal and vertical lengths characterizing the object and D is the depth of the fluid in which the object is placed.

Velocity Storage Contribution to Vestibular Self-Motion Perception in Healthy Human Subjects

2011 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bertolini ◽  
S. Ramat ◽  
J. Laurens ◽  
C. J. Bockisch ◽  
S. Marti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Angular Velocity ◽  
Motion Perception ◽  
Time Constant ◽  
Rotational Velocity ◽  
Relative Weight ◽  
Velocity Storage ◽  
Slow Phase ◽  
Initial Increase ◽  
Self Motion

Self-motion perception after a sudden stop from a sustained rotation in darkness lasts approximately as long as reflexive eye movements. We hypothesized that, after an angular velocity step, self-motion perception and reflexive eye movements are driven by the same vestibular pathways. In 16 healthy subjects (25–71 years of age), perceived rotational velocity (PRV) and the vestibulo-ocular reflex (rVOR) after sudden decelerations (90°/s2) from constant-velocity (90°/s) earth-vertical axis rotations were simultaneously measured (PRV reported by hand-lever turning; rVOR recorded by search coils). Subjects were upright (yaw) or 90° left-ear-down (pitch). After both yaw and pitch decelerations, PRV rose rapidly and showed a plateau before decaying. In contrast, slow-phase eye velocity (SPV) decayed immediately after the initial increase. SPV and PRV were fitted with the sum of two exponentials: one time constant accounting for the semicircular canal (SCC) dynamics and one time constant accounting for a central process, known as velocity storage mechanism (VSM). Parameters were constrained by requiring equal SCC time constant and VSM time constant for SPV and PRV. The gains weighting the two exponential functions were free to change. SPV were accurately fitted (variance-accounted-for: 0.85 ± 0.10) and PRV (variance-accounted-for: 0.86 ± 0.07), showing that SPV and PRV curve differences can be explained by a greater relative weight of VSM in PRV compared with SPV (twofold for yaw, threefold for pitch). These results support our hypothesis that self-motion perception after angular velocity steps is be driven by the same central vestibular processes as reflexive eye movements and that no additional mechanisms are required to explain the perceptual dynamics.

A study of motions in a rotating liquid

1951 ◽  
Vol 206 (1084) ◽  
pp. 108-130 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Angular Velocity ◽  
Equations Of Motion ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Forced Oscillations ◽  
Infinite Cylinder ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Small Motion ◽  
Axis Of Rotation ◽  
Rotating Liquid

Starting with the equations of motion for a perfect, incompressible fluid referred to a coordinate system which rotates about a vertical axis with uniform angular velocity R , the physical condition of ‘small motion’ is determined which permits the equations to be linearized. The small motions resulting from forced oscillations of a rotating liquid are investigated. It is shown that there are three types of flow depending on the relative magnitudes of the impressed frequency β and the angular velocity R of the fluid. Two of the regimes are studied in detail. A similarity law is developed which gives the solution of a class of problems of oscillations for β > 2 R in terms of the solutions to similar irrotational problems. An attempt is made to explain how slow, two-dimensional motion can be produced by introducing a boundary condition which is three-dimensional (as observed in experiments performed by G. I. Taylor), by considering problems from the moment at which the disturbance is created from rest relative to the rotating system, with the only initial assumption that the fluid is rotating uniformly like a solid body. For the particular cases studied the results are in agreement with Taylor’s experiments, in that the flow is found to become steady and two-dimensional if the disturbance which causes it approaches a steady state. If the disturbance is due to a body which moves along the axis of rotation of the fluid, the steady two-dimensional behaviour may be expected everywhere except in the neighbourhood of the surface of an infinite cylinder which encloses the body and whose generators are parallel to the axis of rotation. To resolve an apparent disagreement between certain theoretical results by Grace on the one hand, and experimental evidence by Taylor and the author’s conclusions, on the other, arguments are advanced that the various results may be in agreement, provided Grace’s are given a new interpretation.

Vestibuloocular reflex of rhesus monkeys after spaceflight

1992 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. S121-S131 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Cohen ◽  
I. Kozlovskaya ◽  
T. Raphan ◽  
D. Solomon ◽  
D. Helwig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Time Constant ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Vestibuloocular Reflex ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Axis Rotation ◽  
The One ◽  
Eye Velocity

The vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) of two rhesus monkeys was recorded before and after 14 days of spaceflight. The gain (eye velocity/head velocity) of the horizontal VOR, tested 15 and 18 h after landing, was approximately equal to preflight values. The dominant time constant of the animal tested 15 h after landing was equivalent to that before flight. During nystagmus induced by off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR), the latency, rising time constant, steady-state eye velocity, and phase of modulation in eye velocity and eye position with respect to head position were similar in both monkeys before and after flight. There were changes in the amplitude of modulation of horizontal eye velocity during steady-state OVAR and in the ability to discharge stored activity rapidly by tilting during postrotatory nystagmus (tilt dumping) after flight: OVAR modulations were larger, and tilt dumping was lost in the one animal tested on the day of landing and for several days thereafter. If the gain and time constant of the horizontal VOR change in microgravity, they must revert to normal soon after landing. The changes that were observed suggest that adaptation to microgravity had caused alterations in way that the central nervous system processes otolith input.

Neuronal Substrates of Motor Learning in the Velocity Storage Generated During Optokinetic Stimulation in the Squirrel Monkey

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 1114-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo M. Blazquez ◽  
Maria A. Davis-Lopez de Carrizosa ◽  
Shane A. Heiney ◽  
Stephen M. Highstein
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
High Gain ◽  
Velocity Storage ◽  
Optokinetic Stimulation ◽  
Optokinetic Response ◽  
Head Velocity ◽  
Velocity Sensitivity ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Eye Velocity

Chronic motor learning in the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) results in changes in the gain of this reflex and in other eye movements intimately associated with VOR behavior, e.g., the velocity storage generated by optokinetic stimulation (OKN velocity storage). The aim of the present study was to identify the plastic sites responsible for the change in OKN velocity storage after chronic VOR motor learning. We studied the neuronal responses of vertical eye movement flocculus target neurons (FTNs) during the optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN) phase of the optokinetic response (OKR) before and after VOR motor learning. Our findings can be summarized as follows. 1) Chronic VOR motor learning changes the horizontal OKN velocity storage in parallel with changes in VOR gain, whereas the vertical OKN velocity storage is more complex, increasing with VOR gain increases, but not changing following VOR gain decreases. 2) FTNs contain an OKAN signal having opposite directional preferences after chronic high versus low gain learning, suggesting a change in the OKN velocity storage representation of FTNs. 3) Changes in the eye-velocity sensitivity of FTNs during OKAN are correlated with changes in the brain stem head-velocity sensitivity of the same neurons. And 4) these changes in eye-velocity sensitivity of FTNs during OKAN support the new behavior after high gain but not low gain learning. Thus we hypothesize that the changes observed in the OKN velocity storage behavior after chronic learning result from changes in brain stem pathways carrying head velocity and OKN velocity storage information, and that a parallel pathway to vertical FTNs changes its OKN velocity storage representation following low, but not high, gain VOR motor learning.

Spatial orientation of periodic alternating drift (PAD)

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 201-207
Author(s):  
Aldo Ferraresi ◽  
Gian Battista Azzena ◽  
Diana Troiani
Keyword(s):  
Prone Position ◽  
Time Constant ◽  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Vertical Component ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Longitudinal Axis ◽  
Vestibular Stimulation ◽  
Horizontal Component ◽  
Velocity Storage ◽  
Pigmented Rabbits

Sinusoidal vestibular stimulation induces in the intact rabbit in prone position a periodic alternating drift (PAD), evident in the earth horizontal plane when the animal is rotated about the vertical axis but weak in the vertical one when the animal is rotated about the longitudinal axis. It has been hypothesized that these oscillations are related to an intrinsic instability of the velocity storage, due to the length of its time constant. The velocity storage has the longest time constant aligned with the vertical axis, and it changes its orientation with the gravity vector. The present research examined the spatial orientation of PAD in relation to changes of the animal position with respect to gravity. Normal pigmented rabbits were sinusoidally oscillated about their longitudinal axes to evoke vertical eye responses. The stimulation was carried out with the animal in prone position and with the animal in nose-up condition. With the animal in prone position, PAD had a weak vertical component, but an evident horizontal component was visible. When the animal was in nose-up position, the horizontal component of PAD was clearly visible, while the vertical component was negligible. In both stimulation conditions PAD period and peak velocity were not modulated by the stimulus characteristics. These results are consistent with a model of PAD based on an interaction between velocity storage and the cerebellar adaptation-habituation circuit.

Three-dimensional organization of otolith-ocular reflexes in rhesus monkeys. II. Inertial detection of angular velocity

1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 2425-2440 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Angelaki ◽  
B. J. Hess
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Angular Velocity ◽  
Constant Velocity ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Head Position ◽  
Slow Phase ◽  
Sinusoidal Oscillations ◽  
Eye Velocity

1. The dynamic contribution of otolith signals to three-dimensional angular vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) was studied during off-vertical axis rotations in rhesus monkeys. In an attempt to separate response components to head velocity from those to head position relative to gravity during low-frequency sinusoidal oscillations, large oscillation amplitudes were chosen such that peak-to-peak head displacements exceeded 360 degrees. Because the waveforms of head position and velocity differed in shape and frequency content, the particular head position and angular velocity sensitivity of otolith-ocular responses could be independently assessed. 2. During both constant velocity rotation and low-frequency sinusoidal oscillations, the otolith system generated two different types of oculomotor responses: 1) modulation of three-dimensional eye position and/or eye velocity as a function of head position relative to gravity, as presented in the preceding paper, and 2) slow-phase eye velocity as a function of head angular velocity. These two types of otolith-ocular responses have been analyzed separately. In this paper we focus on the angular velocity responses of the otolith system. 3. During constant velocity off-vertical axis rotations, a steady-state nystagmus was elicited that was maintained throughout rotation. During low-frequency sinusoidal off-vertical axis oscillations, dynamic otolith stimulation resulted primarily in a reduction of phase leads that characterize low-frequency VOR during earth-vertical axis rotations. Both of these effects are the result of an internally generated head angular velocity signal of otolithic origin that is coupled through a low-pass filter to the VOR. No change in either VOR gain or phase was observed at stimulus frequencies larger than 0.1 Hz. 4. The dynamic otolith contribution to low-frequency angular VOR exhibited three-dimensional response characteristics with some quantitative differences in the different response components. For horizontal VOR, the amplitude of the steady-state slow-phase velocity during constant velocity rotation and the reduction of phase leads during sinusoidal oscillation were relatively independent of tilt angle (for angles larger than approximately 10 degrees). For vertical and torsional VOR, the amplitude of steady-state slow-phase eye velocity during constant velocity rotation increased, and the phase leads during sinusoidal oscillation decreased with increasing tilt angle. The largest steady-state response amplitudes and smallest phase leads were observed during vertical/torsional VOR about an earth-horizontal axis. 5. The dynamic range of otolith-borne head angular velocity information in the VOR was limited to velocities up to approximately 110 degrees/s. Higher head velocities resulted in saturation and a decrease in the amplitude of the steady-state response components during constant velocity rotation and in increased phase leads during sinusoidal oscillations. 6. The response characteristics of otolith-borne angular VORs were also studied in animals after selective semicircular canal inactivation. Otolith angular VORs exhibited clear low-pass filtered properties with a corner frequency of approximately 0.05-0.1 Hz. Vectorial summation of canal VOR alone (elicited during earth-vertical axis rotations) and otolith VOR alone (elicited during off-vertical axis oscillations after semicircular canal inactivation) could not predict VOR gain and phase during off-vertical axis rotations in intact animals. This suggests a more complex interaction of semicircular canal and otolith signals. 7. The results of this study show that the primate low-frequency enhancement of VOR dynamics during off-vertical axis rotation is independent of a simultaneous activation of the vertical and torsional “tilt” otolith-ocular reflexes that have been characterized in the preceding paper. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

On waves generated in rotating stratified liquids by travelling forcing effects

1971 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Subba Rao ◽  
G. V. Prabhakara Rao
Keyword(s):  
Angular Velocity ◽  
Vertical Axis ◽  
Constant Angular Velocity ◽  
Uniform Velocity ◽  
Axis Of Rotation ◽  
Propagation Of Waves ◽  
Stratified Liquid

The pattern and propagation of waves excited by forcing effects that may oscillate with a frequency σo and are travelling with a uniform velocity U along the axis of rotation in a rotating stratified liquid are studied by employing the technique of Lighthill. The fluid is assumed to be an unbounded, in viscid, incompressible, non-diffusive, rotating stratified liquid, rotating with a constant angular velocity Ω about a vertical axis and with a density decreasing vertically upwards. It is found that the effect of rotation on stratification or vice versa is to reduce the region of disturbance and to split the wave crests for Ω0 ≠ 0. The periodic nature of the forcing effect excites various systems of waves which are otherwise coincident.

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