Selective Habituation of Vestibular Nystagmus by Visual Stimulation in the Monkey

Abstract

Four monkeys were exposed to a series of unidirectional rotating visual fields, of the type known to produce circularvection in man. As in the human case, the vestibulo-ocular reflex for rotation in the direction of the optokinetic nystagmus and circularvection during the preceding visual stimulation—was markedly decreased following that visual stimulation, whereas that in the opposite direction was increased. This finding corresponds to the results of nystagmus and psychophysical circularvection experiments on man. It suggests a link between single unit studies performed under identical conditions in monkey and psychophysical investigations.