The interaction of visual vestibular and extra-retinal mechanisms in the control of head and gaze during head-free pursuit

摘要

Non-technical summaryIn everyday life, we encounter moving objects and to follow them, we have developed smooth pursuit eye movements. When you rotate your head, the vestibulo-ocular reflex is activated, which generates compensatory smooth eye movements so your eyes remain focussed on the current object of interest. Previous work has shown that you can overcome this reflex to follow a moving object with your eyes and head together, but this normally requires visual feedback. The current study shows that under certain circumstances, for example when you can anticipate the motion of an object, you can use predictive mechanisms in the brain to supplement your pursuit movements to continue to follow the object if it disappears. We demonstrate that you can sample and store brief visual motion to pursue an unseen moving object. Additionally, you can more accurately follow it with your eyes and head together, compared to just using your eyes.