Affiliations: [a] Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, USA | [b] Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Joseph M. Furman, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Department of Otolaryngology, The Eye and Ear Institute, Suite 500, 200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Tel.: +1 412 647 2117; Fax: +1 412 647 2080; E-mail: furman@pitt.edu
Abstract: This study assessed visual-otolith interaction in healthy older humans and compared responses from older subjects to those of younger subjects. Using off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) to stimulate the otolith organs, eye movement responses, measured using electro-oculography, were recorded during rotation in the dark, rotation with an earth-fixed lighted visual surround, and rotation with a subject-fixed fixation target. Results indicated that older subjects, like young subjects, exhibit a modulation component that was as large during rotation with a lighted earth-fixed visual surround as that seen in the dark and a modulation component during rotation with a subject-fixed visual target that was incompletely suppressed. The modulation component was, in general, larger in the older subjects. This study confirms findings from a previous study of visual-otolith interaction in young subjects and suggests that older subjects, like young subjects, have difficulty visually suppressing the modulation component induced by off-vertical axis rotation.
