[Objective assessment of disorders of visual perception following unilateral vestibular loss. Studies of the so-called Dandy symptom].

Visual ability and compensatory eye movements during defined vertical oscillation were investigated in 20 patients with unilateral lesions of labyrinthine function and in 20 normal subjects. Oscillation frequencies were performed at the rate of 1 to 1.5 Hz with an amplitude of 5 cm, comparative to head locomotions of a running person. In synchronism with this, the visual function was tested with Landolt rings. Patients complaining of subjective visual disturbance during walking and running, also presented a measurable blur of vision under test conditions. In addition, eye movements were recorded and classified into three types. However, these eye movements showed no relation to gaze function. Our results suggest that the otolith-ocular reflex may participate in adjusting the vertical eye position during vertical stimulations at low frequencies. The effect of visual disturbances in patients with labyrinthine lesions is explained by the "efference-copy" initially described by von Holst. The efference-copy is responsible for the neutralisation of provoked retinal perceptions.