Short-latency disparity-vergence eye movements in humans: sensitivity to simulated orthogonal tropias

Abstract

Small disparity stimuli applied to large random-dot patterns elicit machine-like vergence eye movements at short latency. We have examined the sensitivity of these eye movements to simulated orthogonal tropias in three normal subjects by recording (1) the effects of vertical disparities on the initial horizontal vergence responses elicited by 2° crossed and uncrossed (horizontal) disparity stimuli, and (2) the effects of horizontal disparities on the initial vertical vergence responses elicited by 1.2° left-hyper and 0.8° right-hyper (vertical) disparity stimuli. Initial vergence responses were strongest when the orthogonal disparity was close to zero, and decreased to zero as the orthogonal disparity increased to 3°–5°, i.e., there was only a limited tolerance for orthogonal disparity. Tuning curves describing the dependence of the initial change in the vergence angle on the orthogonal disparity were well fit by a Gaussian function. An additional subject, who had an esotropia of ∼10° in our experimental setup, showed almost no horizontal vergence responses but did show vertical vergence responses to vertical disparity stimuli at short latency (albeit slightly longer than normal) despite the fact that her esotropia resulted in uncrossed disparities that would have totally disabled the vertical vergence mechanism of a normal subject, cf., anomalous retinal correspondence.