Physiology of peripheral neurons innervating semicircular canals of the squirrel monkey. II. Response to sinusoidal stimulation and dynamics of peripheral vestibular system.

Abstract

A CENTRAL PROBLEM in vestibular physiology has been the elucidation of the dynamics of the peripheral vestibular apparatus. Following the development of the torsion-pendulum model by Steinhausen (24, 25), many efforts have been directed toward the determination of the time constants of the model. That the model, itself, might not adequately describe the transfer characteristics of the peripheral system has seldom been questioned. Further, the procedures employed to estimate the time constants have had their drawbacks. The dynamics of the system have sometimes been deduced from hydrodynamic principles (5, 6, 15, 17, 22, 23). Such an analysis permits the inference of only some of the relevant variables. In the torsionpendulum model, it will be recalled, the angular deflection of the cupula g(t) is related to the angular acceleration a(t) by the equation