Special orientation and postural stability are important functions of daily life. When the sensory-motor mechanisms maintaining equilibrium are sufficiently disturbed, a fall results. The high incidence and severe consequences of falling are significant public health concerns in the elderly. We will study how the CNS utilizes visual, vestibular, and somatosensory inputs to generate behavioral strategies which are necessary to maintain postural stability, and how these strategies change with age and disease. Subjects will stand on a moveable force-detecting platform surrounded by a moveable visual scene. Angular motion of the ankles, body, head, and eyes will be measured during a variety of tasks designed to challenge postural stability. By modulating the subjects' support surface and or visual surround proportional to postural sway, we will assess the contributions of each sensory system to equilibrium control both in isolation and during imposed sensory conflicts. We will study mechanisms underlying recovery of equilibrium following specific postural disturbances (support surface, visual surround, head and eye movement), and under varied conditions of sensory context, including the effects of eye-object distance, visual field, and head and eye orientation relative to the body. We will further isolate vestibular, neck, and visual interactions influencing spacial orientation without the disturbance of postural sway. Subjects will sit in a special rotary chair within an optokinetic drum. Eye, head, and body (chair) rotation will be recorded during active and passive head movements, with the head fixed relative to the body or free to move. The vestibulo-ocular, cervico-ocular and optokinetic reflexes serving to stabilize the visual image will be investigated in isolation and during specific interactions. We will employ optical (2x lenses) manipulation of the visual frame of reference to generate adaptive modifications in the vestibular control of eye, head, and body orientation, and will assess potential degeneration of adaptive mechanisms in the elderly. Knowledge from these studies will be applied in the developmnt of prognostic and rehabilitative tools for patients suffering from disequilibrating vestibular disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01AG006442-01
Application #
3117497
Study Section
(SSS)
Project Start
1986-07-01
Project End
1991-06-30
Budget Start
1986-07-01
Budget End
1987-06-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1986
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Washington University
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
062761671
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130
Seidman, S H; Telford, L; Paige, G D (1998) Tilt perception during dynamic linear acceleration. Exp Brain Res 119:307-14
Paige, G D; Telford, L; Seidman, S H et al. (1998) Human vestibuloocular reflex and its interactions with vision and fixation distance during linear and angular head movement. J Neurophysiol 80:2391-404
Seidman, S H; Paige, G D (1996) Perception and eye movement during low-frequency centripetal acceleration. Ann N Y Acad Sci 781:693-5
Paige, G D; Barnes, G R; Telford, L et al. (1996) Influence of sensorimotor context on the linear vestibulo-ocular reflex. Ann N Y Acad Sci 781:322-31
King, W M; Zhou, W; Tomlinson, R D et al. (1994) Eye position signals in the abducens and oculomotor nuclei of monkeys during ocular convergence. J Vestib Res 4:401-8
Paige, G D (1994) Senescence of human visual-vestibular interactions: smooth pursuit, optokinetic, and vestibular control of eye movements with aging. Exp Brain Res 98:355-72
Paige, G D (1992) Senescence of human visual-vestibular interactions. 1. Vestibulo-ocular reflex and adaptive plasticity with aging. J Vestib Res 2:133-51
Paige, G D (1991) Linear vestibulo-ocular reflex (LVOR) and modulation by vergence. Acta Otolaryngol Suppl 481:282-6
Paige, G D; Sargent, E W (1991) Visually-induced adaptive plasticity in the human vestibulo-ocular reflex. Exp Brain Res 84:25-34
Sargent, E W; Paige, G D (1991) The primate vestibulo-ocular reflex during combined linear and angular head motion. Exp Brain Res 87:75-84

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