Compensatory Eye Movements During Active Head Rotation for Near Targets: Effects of Imagination, Rapid Head Oscillation and Vergence

Because the center of natural head rotation lies some distance behind the centers of eye rotation, the VOR has to operate with a gain substantially above 1 for there to be stable fixation of targets lying near the head. In humans, VOR gain was increased inversely proportional to fixation distance and changed with the angle of the head for very near targets. These effects were also evident when the subject imagined the target. However, this "high-gain" VOR was found to deteriorate substantially at frequencies beyond ca 2.5 Hz. In conditions without visual feedback, the VOR gain enhancement due to near fixation was disrupted by monocular viewing. When the subjects wore lenses to relax or increase accommodation, the lenses were found to have no effect on VOR gain. On the other hand, prisms of equivalent power to the lenses had a large effect whereby gain was adjusted according to the vergence state of the eyes. This suggests that VOR gain modulation is under the direct control of convergence.