VESTIBULAR AND VISUAL CONTROL OF EYE MOVEMENT

前庭-眼反射(VOR)通过唤起眼睛运动与头部运动相反的方向来减少视觉图像在视网膜上的运动。运动学习的一种形式，称为VOR适应，当图像运动与头部旋转持续联系在一起时，通过逐渐纠正反射来校准VOR。VOR适应对于确保在转头时有足够的视力以及在空间中恢复正确的运动和感知方向至关重要，以应对生物体或其环境的变化，例如随着生长和发育、衰老、外周或中枢神经系统损伤、戴上新眼镜或在太空旅行而发生的变化。本实验通过提出以下问题来研究VOR适应的神经机制：视觉前庭刺激的参数(转头时的图像运动)如何影响VOR适应？(目标1)在诱导VOR适应的刺激过程中，哪些神经信号模式持续存在，并因此可能成为VOR适应的神经触发因素？(目标2)通过小脑的神经通路的可塑性如何有助于VOR适应？(目的3)VOR是许多被认为依赖小脑学习来维持正常感觉运动功能和损伤后功能恢复的运动系统之一。小脑的解剖和生理在这一结构的范围内是非常规则的，因此，在VOR适应研究中发现的原理可能有助于开发合理的治疗方法来治疗多种形式的感觉运动功能障碍。

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) reduces motion of visual images on the retina by evoking eye movements in the opposite direction to head movements. A form of motor learning, known as VOR adaptation, calibrates the VOR by gradually correcting the reflex when image motion is persistently associated with head turns. VOR adaptation is essential for ensuring adequate visual acuity during head turns and for restoring proper motor and perceptual orientation in space in response to changes in the organism or its environment, such as occur with growth and development, aging, injury to the peripheral or central nervous system, the donning of a new pair of spectacles, or travel in space. The proposed experiments examine the neural mechanisms of VOR adaptation by asking the following questions: How do the parameters of visual-vestibular stimulation (image motion during head turns) affect VOR adaptation? (Aim 1) What patterns of neural signals are consistently present during stimuli that induce VOR adaptation, and might therefore serve as the neural trigger for VOR adaptation? (Aim 2) How might plasticity in neural pathways through the cerebellum contribute to VOR adaptation? (Aim 3) The VOR is one of many motor systems that is thought to rely on cerebellum-dependent learning to maintain normal sensorimotor function and for recovery of function following injury. The anatomy and physiology of the cerebellum is very regular across the extent of this structure, therefore, the principles uncovered in studies of VOR adaptation may be useful for the development of rational therapeutic approaches to many forms of sensorimotor dysfunction.