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The neural signal of angular head position in primary afferent vestibular nerve axons
Author(s) -
Loe P. R.,
Tomko David L.,
Werner G.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.1973.sp010173
Subject(s) - vestibular system , physics , excitatory postsynaptic potential , stimulus (psychology) , population , vestibular nerve , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , vestibulo–ocular reflex , reflex , neuroscience , anatomy , chemistry , biology , medicine , psychology , environmental health , psychotherapist
1. The relation between discharge frequency and angular head position was determined for a population of regularly discharging single first‐order vestibular neurones in the eighth nerve of the barbiturate anaesthetized cat. 2. Each axon had a characteristic head position which was maximally excitatory to it, and a diametrically opposed head position which was minimally excitatory. 3. After correction for phase shifts introduced by the orientation of preferred excitability, discharge rate in statoreceptor afferents varied as a power function of the sine of angular head position with exponents ranging from 0·9 to 1·6. 4. Experimentally determined discharge rates were compared with the predictions of a computer simulation model incorporating the idea that shearing force acting on morphologically polarized receptors is the adequate stimulus for macular receptor cells. 5. This approach permitted the identification of a population of first‐order vestibular afferents whose discharge frequency varied with head position as did the magnitude of shear force computed for individual receptors, each most excited in a particular head position. 6. The majority of the spatial orientations of maximal sensitivity defined a surface which is tilted by approximately 30° with reference to the Horsley—Clarke horizontal plane, implying that most statoreceptor afferents are maximally sensitive to position changes when the cat's head is at or near its normal position.