The nodulus and uvula: source of cerebellar control of spatial orientation of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex

The nodulus and rostral-ventral uvula of the vestibulo-cerebellum play a critical role in orienting eye velocity of the slow component of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (aVOR) to gravito-inertial acceleration (GIA). This is done by altering the time constants of "velocity storage" in the vestibular system and by generating "cross-coupled" eye velocities that shift the eye velocity vector from along the body yaw axis to the yaw axis in a spatial frame. In this report, we show that eye velocity generated through the aVOR by constant velocity centrifugation in the monkey orients to the GIA in space, regardless of the position of the head with respect to the axis of rotation. We also show that, after removal of the nodulus and rostral-ventral uvula, the spatial orientation of eye velocity to the GIA is lost and that eye velocity is then purely driven by the semicircular canals in a body frame of reference. These findings are further confirmation that these regions of the vestibulo-cerebellum control spatial orientation of the aVOR.