Eye movements during motion after-effect

Using the magnetic search coil technique, we measured torsional eye movements in four male subjects during and after rotation of a visual display around the line of sight. During rotation of the display, subjects developed a torsional nystagmus with slow-phases in the direction of target rotation that had a typical gain of less than 0.01. Upon cessation of display motion, subjects experienced a motion after-effect (MAE) in the direction opposite prior target rotation, which persisted for greater than 15 sec. During this MAE, slow-phase eye movements of low velocity were in the same direction as the MAE, but did not persist as long as perceptual effects. In separate experiments, horizontal eye movements were recorded during horizontal stimulus motion; during MAE, no eye movements occurred due to stronger fixation mechanisms. We conclude that MAE is not caused by retinal slip of images, but MAE and the accompanying eye movements might be produced by shared or similar mechanisms.