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  • Review Article
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Self-motion-induced eye movements: effects on visual acuity and navigation

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 6, pages 966–976 (2005)Cite this article

Key Points

  • Short-latency eye movements, triggered by visual (ocular following reflex; OFR) and vestibular (translational vestibulo-ocular reflex; TVOR) mechanisms, compensate for the retinal image slip that is experienced during translational self-motion. These eye movements are predominantly conjugate during lateral motion when gaze and travel directions are approximately orthogonal to each other. Motion in a forward direction generates combinations of conjugate and vergence eye movements.

  • Owing to the geometry of the translation-induced flow patterns, the OFR and the TVOR can reduce retinal image slip only locally to maintain foveal visual acuity. Foveal image stabilization is preferred at the cost of peripheral vision even when spatial attention is allocated to a peripheral target.

  • A major challenge for the brain is estimation of target distance, which is necessary to adjust the amplitude of compensatory eye movements. For the OFR, this selection is driven by disparity- and motion parallax-sensitive mechanisms, whereas for the TVOR, target distance is solely computed on the basis of motor cues, primarily vergence angle and accommodation.

  • The OFR is generated using visual motion signals in the medial superior temporal cortex, which projects to the paraflocculus of the cerebellum via the pontine nuclei. Purkinje cells in the ventral paraflocculus are thought to encode a motor command for the OFR. Neural processing underlying the generation of TVOR involves the vestibulo-cerebellum and the vestibular nuclei.

  • Compensation of retinal image slip during translation involves eye movements that, in turn, modify the pattern of optic flow experienced by the moving observer. The mathematical analysis suggests that this interaction does not interfere with the use of optic flow information for visual navigation.

Abstract

Self-motion disturbs the stability of retinal images by inducing optic flow. Objects of interest need to be fixated or tracked, yet these eye movements can infringe on the experienced retinal flow that is important for visual navigation. Separating the components of optic flow caused by an eye movement from those due to self-motion, as well as using optic flow for visual navigation while simultaneously maintaining visual acuity on near targets, represent key challenges for the visual system. Here we summarize recent advances in our understanding of how the visuomotor and vestibulomotor systems function and interact, given the complex task of compensating for instabilities of retinal images, which typically vary as a function of retinal location and differ for each eye.

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Figure 1: Optic flow experienced when looking out the window of a moving train or when walking forward.
Figure 2: The translational vestibulo-ocular reflex depends on viewing distance, movement direction and gaze direction.
Figure 3: The ocular following reflex depends on viewing distance.
Figure 4: Summary of sensorimotor circuitry for the generation of visuomotor and vestibulomotor eye movements during translational self-motion.
Figure 5: Optic flow experienced when moving forward while looking away from the direction of movement.

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Acknowledgements

The authors' work is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    Dora E. Angelaki

  2. Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zürich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, Zürich, CH-8091, Switzerland

    Bernhard J. M. Hess

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  1. Dora E. Angelaki
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Correspondence to Dora E. Angelaki.

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Glossary

OCULAR FOLLOWING REFLEX

(OFR). Short-latency reflexive eye movements in response to the optic flow experienced during self-motion. These responses, which can be either conjugate or disjunctive, are typically studied during the first ∼100 ms of brief presentations of visual motion (open-loop conditions).

BINOCULAR DISPARITY

Differences in the position of similar images in the two eyes. Side-to-side differences are called horizontal disparities and can produce a compelling sensation of three-dimensionality. Differences in the up–down position are known as vertical disparities.

VESTIBULAR END ORGANS

A set of balance receptors in the inner ear, consisting of the otolith organs (utricle and sacculus) that encode linear acceleration and the semicircular canals (lateral, anterior and posterior) that measure angular acceleration.

RETINAL IMAGE SLIP

The difference between the velocity of the movement of a retinal image and the eye, which is picked up by motion detectors in the visual system.

CONJUGATE EYE MOVEMENTS

Eye movements of similar amplitude and direction in the two eyes.

DISJUNCTIVE EYE MOVEMENTS

Eye movements that differ in amplitude between the two eyes. The disjunctive components are typically quantified by measuring the vergence angle, which is defined as the difference between the right and left eye positions.

IMAGE SHEAR

Deformation of retinal image due to translation of the subject.

SEMICIRCULAR CANALS

One of the two sets of vestibular end organs that measure angular acceleration of the head. In each ear, there are three semicircular canals, the lateral, anterior and posterior, each of which senses angular motion in each of three orthogonal planes.

OTOLITH ORGANS

Linear acceleration sensors that are located in the inner ear and consist of receptor hair cells with different polarization vectors distributed over the utricular (approximately horizontal) and the saccular (approximately in the sagittal plane) maculae.

ACCOMMODATION

The automatic adjustment of the eye to allow it to see at different distances, which is chiefly brought about by changes in the convexity of the lens. Horizontal vergence and accommodation normally occur together. The two responses are accompanied by an appropriate change in pupil diameter. The three concomitant changes are known as the near-triad response.

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Angelaki, D., Hess, B. Self-motion-induced eye movements: effects on visual acuity and navigation. Nat Rev Neurosci 6, 966–976 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1804

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1804

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