Anatomy and Physiology of Otolith-controlled Ocular Counterrolling

Abstract

Ocular counterrolling (OCR) is the approximately conjugate rotational movement of the eyes about their visual axes, rotating opposite to the direction of head tilt. When the eyes are induced to rotate without head rotation, either by stimulation or voluntarily (2), the phenomenon is called ocular torsion. The earliest known observations on OCR were in 1786 by an English anatomist, John Hunter, and in 1848 by Bernard von Gudden, Prince Ludwig's physician (10). OCR may have some functional significance in stabilizing images on the retina, even though OCR does occur in certain head rotations when no such visual function is served (12).