Electrovestibulography (EVestG) application for measuring vestibular response to horizontal pursuit and saccadic eye movements

Mehrangiz Ashiri, Brian Lithgow, Abdelbaset Suleiman, Behzad Mansouri, Zahra Moussavi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Vestibular effects linked to eye movements have been extensively investigated, however, the effect of eye movements on the vestibular is relatively unknown. In this study, vestibular responses to horizontal pursuit and saccadic eye movements were examined in healthy individuals. Visual stimuli were presented to nineteen participants (27.7 ± 5.74 (SD) years, 11 female) using a virtual reality headset whilst the vestibular responses were simultaneously recorded using Electrovestibulography (EVestG). The average field potentials (FP) of three segments 1) prior to (Pre-Background), 2) during (Movement), and 3) after ceasing the visual stimulus (Post-Background) were extracted and the action potential (AP) area used as one feature. Both pursuit and saccadic eye movements resulted in a smaller average AP area during the Movement compared to Pre-Background (P = 0.002). Pursuit and saccadic eye movements also resulted in significantly longer time intervals between the low frequency (approximately 10 Hz) modulations of FPs detected during Movement compared to the Pre-Background (P ≤ 0.001). Moreover, a comparison between rightward and leftward saccades indicated no significant difference between the two directions for the FP and time interval features (P > 0.37). These findings suggest that pursuit and saccade eye movements inhibit the activity of both the central (postulated efferent pathways) and peripheral (afferent) vestibular system. We hypothesize that the purpose of this vestibular inhibition is to limit the vestibulo-ocular reflex and optokinetic response. Additionally, the insensitivity of the vestibular system to the saccade directions with a stationary head provides anecdotal evidence on the bilateral efferent projections to the vestibular afferent and hair cells.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)527-539
Number of pages13
JournalBiocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering
Volume41
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2021

Keywords

  • EVestG
  • Pursuit
  • Saccade
  • Vestibular

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