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Updated: Jun 19, 2026
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Using Eye-tracking to Assess the Relative Importance of Visual and Vestibular Input to Subcortical Motion Processing in the Roll Plane
Published on: August 22, 2025
Oculomotor strategies and their effect on reducing gaze position error
Michael C Schubert1, Courtney D Hall, Vallabh Das
1Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA. mschube1@jhmi.edu
Summary
Individuals with vestibular hypofunction use unique eye movement strategies, including compensatory saccades, to stabilize gaze during head movements. Rehabilitation should tailor exercises to these individual preferences for better gaze stability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Ophthalmology
- Vestibular System
Background:
- Vestibular adaptation exercises improve gaze stability in individuals with vestibular hypofunction during active head rotation.
- Oculomotor strategies during passive head rotation in vestibular hypofunction are not well understood.
- Gaze stability is crucial for visual function and is often impaired in vestibular disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate oculomotor strategies for gaze stabilization during ipsilesional passive and active head rotations in individuals with vestibular hypofunction.
- To determine differences in eye movement types and their impact on gaze stability.
Main Methods:
- Subjects with unilateral and bilateral vestibular hypofunction and healthy controls were assessed.
- Head and eye velocity and position data were recorded using a scleral search coil.
- Diagnostic testing included bithermal caloric and rotational chair assessments.
Main Results:
- Individuals with vestibular hypofunction exhibited three gaze-stabilizing eye movements: slow vestibular ocular reflex, compensatory saccades, and corrective saccades.
- Eye movement strategies were highly individualized during both active and passive head impulses.
- Recruiting compensatory saccades effectively reduced gaze position error.
Conclusions:
- Vestibular rehabilitation should identify and leverage individual gaze stability preferences.
- Facilitating compensatory saccades is a potential therapeutic target for improving gaze stability in vestibular hypofunction.
- Understanding unique oculomotor strategies is key for effective rehabilitation.
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