Gaze control during head-free pursuit in patients with loss of vestibular function.

Abstract

Studies of gaze control in labyrinthine-deficient (LD) patients have revealed a variety of adaptive mechanisms that may be used to compensate for loss of the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR), including central preprogramming of eye movements and the potentiation of the pursuit, optokinetic, and cervicoocular reflexes. To investigate the mechanisms that compensate for loss of the VOR during head-free pursuit we examined the responses to pursuit of pseudorandom target motion in LD patients under head-free and head-fixed conditions, using a stimulus that covers the frequency range of normal head-free pursuit movements.