Frequency-response analysis of central vestibular unit activity resulting from rotational stimulation of the semicircular canals

Abstract

1. The neural response of semicircular canal-dependent units in the vestibular nuclei of cats has been examined over a frequency range of sinusoidal rotation extending from 0.004 to 0.9 Hz.2. Frequency-response analysis indicates that, over the range examined, the information contained in the neural signal received by the brain stem was similar to that expected from the mechanical end-organ.3. Over the experimental frequency range, the relation between neural response and mechanical stimulus was found to be dominated by a single time constant of about 4 sec, such that two response regions can be defined above and below a stimulus frequency of (1/4) rad/sec ( approximately approximately Hz).4. Above this frequency the information content of the neural signal tends towards that of angular velocity and below that frequency it tends towards that of angular acceleration.5. It is inferred (a) that the so-called ;long' time constant of the cat's horizontal canal is about 4 sec and (b) that during most normal head movements containing frequencies below about 1 Hz the informational mode of neural signals generated in the canal and received in the brain stem probably tends towards that of head angular velocity.6. This seems appropriate for the generation of vestibulo-ocular reflex compensation for head movement and for reflex damping (negative velocity feed-back) of unintended head and body movements.7. The average neural gain of central unit responses is estimated at 1264 action potentials/sec, per degree of cupular deflexion. This high value reflects the very small angles of cupular deflexion assessed on the basis of physical characteristics of the canal.8. The results permit a rough estimate of the elastic restoring coefficient of the cupula in the horizontal canal as 2.05 x 10(-3) dyne. cm.