The velocity response of vestibular nucleus neurons during vestibular, visual, and combined angular acceleration

✍ Scribed by W. Waespe; V. Henn

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 696 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-4819
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00237718

✦ Synopsis

In alert Rhesus monkeys neuronal activity in the vestibular nuclei was measured during horizontal angular acceleration in darkness, acceleration of an optokinetic stimulus, and combined visual-vestibular stimulation. The working ranges for visual input velocity and acceleration extend up to 60 degrees/s and 5 degrees/s2. The corresponding working range for vestibular input acceleration is wider and time-dependent. During combined stimulation, that is acceleration of the monkey in the light, a linear relation between neuronal activity and velocity could be established for all neurons. Type I vestibular plus eye movement neurons displayed the greatest sensitivity and had a small linear range of operation. Other vestibular neurons were less sensitive but had a larger range of linear response to different values of acceleration. Accelerating the animal and visual surround, simultaneously but in opposite directions, results in neuronal activity proportional to relative velocity over a limited range.