Canal-neck interaction in vestibular neurons of the cat's cerebral cortex

Interaction of semicircular canal and neck proprioceptive inputs was studied in the cerebral cortex of awake, intact cats. Neuronal responses were recorded extracellularly in the anterior suprasylvian gyrus of the left hemisphere. Stimulations consisted of horizontal rotations in the dark applied as sinusoids or position ramps. There were three stimulus conditions: (1) Pure canal stimulation; rotation of whole body. (2) Pure neck stimulation; rotation of trunk about stationary head. (3) Canal-neck interaction; rotation of head about stationary trunk. We recorded 105 neurons with either Type I or Type II canal response. These showed often pronounced non-linearities such as a clear firing increase upon rotation in the "on-direction" and hardly any decrease in the opposite direction. The responses reflected mostly angular velocity, but angular position signals were also obtained. In 79 neurons, either Type I or Type II neck responses were obtained. They coded either angular velocity, velocity plus position, or position. Canal-neck convergence was found in 67 of 88 neurons tested. In the majority of neurons, interaction was "antagonistic" in the sense that the canal and neck responses tended to cancel each other during rotation of the head about the stationary trunk. These neurons could signal trunk rotation in space rather than head in space or head relative to trunk. Most of the remaining neurons showed a "synergistic" interaction such that the response upon head rotation was enhanced as compared to whole body or trunk rotation. These neurons might be involved in the dual task of monitoring head rotation in space and relative to trunk. Interaction was compatible with linear summation of canal and neck inputs in 70% of the neurons. In part of these, however, the assumption had to be made that the interaction had taken place already at some stage prior to the cortical neurons investigated. The response characteristics of cortical canal neurons are discussed in comparison to vestibular nuclear neurons. Furthermore, parallels are drawn between the observed canal-neck interactions in the cortical neurons and (i) interactions of canal and neck dependent postural reflexes in the decerebrate cat, and (ii) interactions of canal and neck induced turning sensations in man.