Effect of vergence on the gain of the linear vestibulo-ocular reflex

Abstract

We measured the linear vestibulo-ocular reflex (LVOR) and vergence, using binocular search coils, in 3 humans. The subjects were accelerated sinusoidally at 0.5 Hz and 0.2 g peak acceleration, in complete darkness, while performing three different tasks: i) mental arithmetic; ii) tracking a remembered target at either 0.34 m or 0.14 m distance; and iii) maintaining vergence at either of these distances by means of audio biofeedback based on vergence. Subjects could control vergence using the audio feedback; there was greater convergence with the near audio target. However, there was no significant difference in vergence between the near and far remembered target conditions. With audio feedback, the amplitude of smooth tracking was not consistently different for the near and the far conditions. However, the amplitude of tracking (saccades and smooth component) in the remembered target conditions was greater for near than for far targets. These results suggest that linear VOR amplitude is not determined by vergence alone.