Nystagmus generated by sinusoidal pitch while rotating.

Sinusoidal pitch while rotating about a vertical axis in darkness causes continuous horizontal compensatory nystagmus in the monkey which persists for the duration of stimulation. The steady-state velocity sums with post-rotatory nystagmus to reduce or cancel it, suggesting involvement of the velocity storage mechanism. Analysis of the labyrinthine excitation during pitch while rotating suggests that the vertical canals play a predominant role in generating the response. Effects of selective labyrinthine lesions are in agreement with this hypothesis. Plugging the lateral canals, leaving the vertical canals intact, blocked the initial rapid response at the onset of rotation, but did not interrupt the continuous nystagmus induced by pitch while rotating. On the other hand, plugging the vertical canals abolished the response. If the lateral canal nerves were cut so that the velocity storage mechanism was inactivated, the continuous response to pitch while rotating also disappeared. The dominant labyrinth activation responsible for the nystagmus during pitching while rotating appears to arise in the vertical semicircular canals and to couple to the oculomotor system through the velocity storage mechanism.