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Updated: Sep 2, 2025

Development of a Gaze-Contingent Display Framework Designed for Perceptual and Oculomotor Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss
Published on: April 11, 2025
Conserved subcortical processing in visuo-vestibular gaze control
Tobias Wibble1,2, Tony Pansell2, Sten Grillner1
1The Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract:
Gaze stabilization compensates for movements of the head or external environment to minimize image blurring. Multisensory information stabilizes the scene on the retina via the vestibulo-ocular (VOR) and optokinetic (OKR) reflexes. While the organization of neuronal circuits underlying VOR is well-described across vertebrates, less is known about the contribution and evolution of the OKR and the basic structures allowing visuo-vestibular integration. To analyze these neuronal pathways underlying visuo-vestibular integration, we developed a setup using a lamprey eye-brain-labyrinth preparation, which allowed coordinating electrophysiological recordings, vestibular stimulation with a moving platform, and visual stimulation via screens. Lampreys exhibit robust visuo-vestibular integration, with optokinetic information processed in the pretectum that can be downregulated from tectum. Visual and vestibular inputs are integrated at several subcortical levels. Additionally, saccades are present in the form of nystagmus. Thus, all basic components of the visuo-vestibular control of gaze were present already at the dawn of vertebrate evolution.
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