ABSTRACT
The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) generates eye movements relative to the head with speed and direction opposite to the movements of the head in space. To understand these phenomena further, we asked whether eccentric positions of gaze but with the eyes at zero degrees of orbital elevation, or eccentric positions of the eye in the orbit but with gaze at zero degrees of elevation, caused similar tilts in the angular velocity axes. An inclinometer was used to reposition the head such that the eyes remained in the center of the magnetic fields. Eye movements generated by the VOR are measured by the search coil relative to the field coils. The decrease is probably not due to torsional pursuit or cancellation, but rather results from the fact that the two mechanisms producing torsional eye velocity generate velocities in opposite directions.
