Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Journal of Physiology logoLink to The Journal of Physiology
. 1989 Mar;410:137–155. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1989.sp017525

Head-free pursuit in the human of a visual target moving in a pseudo-random manner.

G R Barnes 1, J F Lawson 1
PMCID: PMC1190471  PMID: 2795476

Abstract

1. Head and eye movements have been recorded in man during head-free pursuit of a target moving in a pseudo-random manner in the horizontal plane with a motion stimulus composed of the sum of four sinusoids. 2. In an initial experiment the three lowest frequencies remained constant at 0.11, 0.24 and 0.37 Hz, whilst the highest frequency (F4) took values of 0.39, 0.78, 1.56 and 2.08 Hz. Peak velocity of each component was 10 deg/s. When F4 was 0.39 Hz gaze displacement (i.e. the sum of head and eye displacement) was relatively smooth and had a mean velocity gain of 0.95. As F4 was increased gaze displacement contained more saccadic activity and gaze velocity gain for the three lower-frequency components was significantly (P less than 0.001) reduced to a minimum level of 0.66 when F4 was 1.56 Hz. 3. A similar reduction in gain of the lower-frequency components was obtained when the velocity of F4 was increased as a ratio of the velocity of the lower frequencies from 0 to 4. 4. When the frequency composition of the stimulus was varied so that the two highest frequencies were closely spaced, gaze velocity gain for the highest frequency was always significantly higher than that of the next lower frequency, indicating a true enhancement of the highest-frequency component. 5. Changing the lowest-frequency component of the stimulus resulted in a significant shift in the gaze velocity phase profile as a function of frequency, so that phase advance was always associated with the lowest frequency even when this was as high as 0.89 Hz. 6. These changes in gain and phase of gaze velocity with the frequency content of the stimulus were similar to those previously described for head-fixed pursuit and visual suppression of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and implicate the frequency-dependent, non-linear visual feed-back mechanisms in gaze control. 7. A number of the non-linear characteristics of gaze velocity were also observed in a somewhat modified form in the head displacement gains and phases, implying that the drive to the neck muscles is also derived from the same non-linear visual feed-back source. 8. The role of the VOR in head-free pursuit was tested by exposing the subject to whole-body motion on a turntable which countered the volitional head movement generated by the subject.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Full text

PDF
137

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. André-Deshays C., Berthoz A., Revel M. Eye-head coupling in humans. I. Simultaneous recording of isolated motor units in dorsal neck muscles and horizontal eye movements. Exp Brain Res. 1988;69(2):399–406. doi: 10.1007/BF00247585. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barnes G. R., Benson A. J., Prior A. R. Visual-vestibular interaction in the control of eye movement. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1978 Apr;49(4):557–564. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Barnes G. R., Crombie J. W., Edge A. The effects of ethanol on visual-vestibular interaction during active and passive head movements. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1985 Jul;56(7):695–701. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barnes G. R., Donnelly S. F., Eason R. D. Predictive velocity estimation in the pursuit reflex response to pseudo-random and step displacement stimuli in man. J Physiol. 1987 Aug;389:111–136. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1987.sp016649. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Barnes G. R., Eason R. D. Effects of visual and non-visual mechanisms on the vestibulo-ocular reflex during pseudo-random head movements in man. J Physiol. 1988 Jan;395:383–400. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1988.sp016925. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Barnes G. R., Edge A. Non-linear effects in visual suppression of vestibular nystagmus. Exp Brain Res. 1983;52(1):9–19. doi: 10.1007/BF00237143. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Barnes G. R., Edge A. The effects of strobe rate of head-fixed visual targets on suppression of vestibular nystagmus. Exp Brain Res. 1983;50(2-3):228–236. doi: 10.1007/BF00239187. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Barnes G. R., Rance B. H. Transmission of angular acceleration to the head in the seated human subject. Aerosp Med. 1974 Apr;45(4):411–416. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Barnes G. R., Ruddock C. J. Factors affecting the predictability of pseudo-random motion stimuli in the pursuit reflex of man. J Physiol. 1989 Jan;408:137–165. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1989.sp017452. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Barnes G. R., Sommerville G. P. Visual target acquisition and tracking performance using a helmet-mounted sight. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1978 Apr;49(4):565–572. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Barnes G. R. The effects of retinal target location on suppression of the vestibulo-ocular reflex. Exp Brain Res. 1983;49(2):257–268. doi: 10.1007/BF00238585. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Barr C. C., Schultheis L. W., Robinson D. A. Voluntary, non-visual control of the human vestibulo-ocular reflex. Acta Otolaryngol. 1976 May-Jun;81(5-6):365–375. doi: 10.3109/00016487609107490. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Bizzi E., Kalil R. E., Morasso P., Tagliasco V. Central programming and peripheral feedback during eye-head coordination in monkeys. Bibl Ophthalmol. 1972;82:220–232. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Fleming D. G., Vossius G. W., Bowman G., Johnson E. L. Adaptive properties of the eye-tracking system as revealed by moving-head and open-loop studies. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1969 Apr 21;156(2):825–850. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1969.tb14017.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Fuller J. H. Eye and head movements during vestibular stimulation in the alert rabbit. Brain Res. 1981 Feb 2;205(2):363–381. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(81)90346-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Gresty M. A. Eye, head and body movements of the guinea pig in response to optokinetic stimulation and sinusoidal oscillation in yaw. Pflugers Arch. 1975;353(3):201–214. doi: 10.1007/BF00584284. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Gresty M., Leech J. Coordination of the head and eyes in pursuit of predictable and random target motion. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1977 Aug;48(8):741–744. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Gresty M. Stability of the head: studies in normal subjects and in patients with labyrinthine disease, head tremor, and dystonia. Mov Disord. 1987;2(3):165–185. doi: 10.1002/mds.870020304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Guitton D., Crommelinck M., Roucoux A. Stimulation of the superior colliculus in the alert cat. I. Eye movements and neck EMG activity evoked when the head is restrained. Exp Brain Res. 1980;39(1):63–73. doi: 10.1007/BF00237070. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Jell R. M., Guedry F. E., Jr, Hixson W. C. The vestibulo-ocular reflex in man during voluntary head oscillation under three visual conditions. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1982 Jun;53(6):541–548. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Lanman J., Bizzi E., Allum J. The coordination of eye and head movement during smooth pursuit. Brain Res. 1978 Sep 15;153(1):39–53. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(78)91127-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Lau C. G., Honrubia V., Jenkins H. A., Baloh R. W., Yee R. D. Linear model for visual-vestibular interaction. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1978 Jul;49(7):880–885. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Leigh R. J., Sharpe J. A., Ranalli P. J., Thurston S. E., Hamid M. A. Comparison of smooth pursuit and combined eye-head tracking in human subjects with deficient labyrinthine function. Exp Brain Res. 1987;66(3):458–464. doi: 10.1007/BF00270678. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. McKinley P. A., Peterson B. W. Voluntary modulation of the vestibuloocular reflex in humans and its relation to smooth pursuit. Exp Brain Res. 1985;60(3):454–464. doi: 10.1007/BF00236931. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Takahashi M., Uemura T., Fujishiro T. Studies of the vestibulo-ocular reflex and visual-vestibular interactions during active head movements. Acta Otolaryngol. 1980;90(1-2):115–124. doi: 10.3109/00016488009131706. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Physiology are provided here courtesy of The Physiological Society

RESOURCES