Ocular counterrolling measured during eight hours of sustained body tilt

Miller, E. F., II; Graybiel, A.

Adaptation of otolith organ activity was investigated by monitoring the ocular counterrolling response of four normal individuals and three persons with severe bilateral loss of labyrinthine function. Several eye photographs were recorded every 30 minutes during a period of 8 hours in which the subject was held in a lateral tilt (60 deg) position. The recorded eye roll position varied to an expected small extent within each test session; this variation about a given mean roll position was similar among the test sessions for all subjects. The mean roll position, on the other hand, changed from session to session in substantial amounts, but these changes appeared to be random with respect to time and among subjects. Furthermore, the intersessional variation in the mean torsional eye position of the normal subjects was equivalent to that of the labyrinthine-defective subjects who displayed little or no counterrolling. These results suggest that the human counterrolling response is maintained either by essentially nonadapting macular receptors or by extremely fine movements of the head in the gravitational field, such as may have been allowed by the biteboard/headrest restraint system used in this study, which served as an everchanging accelerative stimulus.

Document ID

19720018408

Acquisition Source

Legacy CDMS

Document Type

Contractor Report (CR)

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Date Acquired

August 6, 2013

Publication Date

January 4, 1972

Subject Category

Report/Patent Number

Accession Number

72N26058

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Public

Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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