Evaluation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex by gaze function.

The relationship between the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and gaze fixation was investigated in normal adults, normal children, patients with cerebellar lesion and patients with labyrinthine dysfunction. Large VOR gains were found in patients with cerebellar lesion and normal children, both presenting poor suppression by gaze. Pathological decline in the VOR gain with labyrinthine lesion impaired spatial gaze fixation; however, it did not affect fixation-induced suppression. Gaze effect on the VOR, whether amplifying or suppressing, decreased linearly and rapidly at higher frequencies so that VOR seemed to be no more modified in the light at 2-3 Hz in any subject group. The present study suggested that VOR is controlled even in the dark by both mechanisms to obtain spatial gaze fixation and to gaze at a spatially moving target.