Authors: Tatsuhisa Hasegawa Masayuki Yamashita Toshihiro Suzuki Yasuo Hisa Yoshiro Wada
Publish Date: 2009/02/17
Volume: 194, Issue: 4, Pages: 505-516
Abstract
We usually move both our eyes and our head when pursuing a highspeed moving object However the vestibuloocular reflex VOR evoked by head motion seems to disturb smooth pursuit eye movement because the VOR stabilizes the gaze against head motion To determine whether head motion is advantageous for pursuing a highspeed moving object we examined dynamic visual acuity DVA for a highspeed 80°/s rightward moving object with and without active linear rightward head motion HM at a maximum of 50 cm/s in nine healthy subjects Furthermore we analyzed eye and head movements to investigate the contribution of linear VOR LVOR and smooth eye movement under these conditions In most subjects active linear head motion improved DVA for a highspeed moving object Subjects with higher DVA scores under HM had robust rightward gaze eye + head velocities 60 cm/s ie rightward smooth eye movements 10°/s With the head stationary HS faster smooth eye movements 40°/s were generated when the subjects pursued a highspeed moving object They also showed anticipatory smooth eye movements under conditions HM and HS However the level of suppression of their LVOR abilities was equal to that of the others These results suggest that the ability to generate anticipatory smooth pursuit eye movements for following a highspeed moving object against the LVOR is a determining factor for improvement of DVA under HM
Keywords: