NEURAL CONTROL OF VISUAL VESTIBULAR BEHAVIOR

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Normal posture, balance and stable vision are dependent on interactions between the visual and vestibular systems. Our studies are directed at defining the neural substrate for normal visual-vestibular-oculomotor behavior. There is a continuous need to calibrate the motor output of the vestibular ocular reflex due to normal development or injury to the vestibular system. Without this calibration, difficulties in maintaining balance and clear vision during locomotion would occur. In addition to long-term calibration, vision is supported by moment-by-moment or dynamic visual-vestibular interactions. We have recently demonstrated that neurons in MST and FEF have differential contributions to gain control during volitional gaze movements. We used target perturbation to demonstrate the neurons in the FEF are more sensitive to target perturbation during tracking then those neurons MST. We are working to uncover the signals processed in different components of the cortical-ponto-cerebellar pathways supporting gaze control.