Influence of gravity on the eye movement response elicited by periodic lateral linear acceleration.

: Periodic linear acceleration elicits eye movements in human beings. This is generally considered to be the result of the otolithic-ocular reflex (OOR). However, otolith organs respond not only to the resultant inertial force caused by head motion, but also to the gravitational force. We investigated the influence of the resultant gravito-inertial vector on the OOR using a linear acceleration sled. Subjects were 10 healthy volunteers. The sled moving back and forth parallel to the lateral head axis stimulated the subjects. We tested each subject in 7 different positions in the pitch plane. Horizontal eye movements with nystagmic patterns were elicited by these stimuli. The results indicate that the responses were larger in the forward tilted positions than in the backward tilted positions. It can be concluded that the horizontal OOR is influenced by the gravity vector. The cause of this phenomenon is still unclear. However, it could be closely related to the nystagmus observed during off vertical axis rotation.