How the eyes move the body

Abstract

The increased postural sway of patients with disorders of the vestibular system improves with vision. The suppression of pathologic nystagmus also reduces sway. Because the latter effect cannot be attributed to retinal slip as a relevant feedback for postural control, the authors investigated how eye movements rather than retinal slip affect balance. They found that slow eye movements increase sway, possibly by an efference copy, which explains why spontaneous nystagmus causes postural imbalance.