Visual motion does not bias gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate cerebellar nodulus and uvula
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
- 2Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- 3Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- 4Department of Otolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Abstract
Visual motion is known to influence perceptions of tilt, verticality, and translation, suggesting that optic flow is combined with vestibular cues to estimate orientation relative to gravity. The cerebellar nodulus and ventral uvula (NU) are a prime candidate to perform this computation because this region uniquely receives convergent semicircular canal, otolith, and proprioceptive inputs, and in non-primate species full-field visual motion robustly modulates NU activity. Here, we tested whether visual roll motion, known to bias perceived orientation relative to gravity, alters the internal gravity-referenced transformation used by NU neurons to encode vestibular self-motion. To test this, we recorded single-unit activity from NU Purkinje cells in rhesus macaques during whole-body translations in darkness, either without visual stimulation or after prolonged full-field optokinetic roll motion. We hypothesized that visual motion simulating head tilt would bias the NU’s internal gravity estimate, leading to altered translation-evoked responses. Contrary to this prediction, visual motion had no effect on either baseline firing rates or vestibular responses. Moreover, a computational model predicting visually induced shifts in neural tuning was not supported by the data. These results show that visual roll motion, although known to influence perceived orientation, does not bias gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate NU. This specialization may preserve a fast, body-anchored gravity estimate for postural and reflexive motor control, delegating visual–vestibular integration for perception to downstream circuits.
Visual motion can bias perceived orientation relative to gravity, raising the question of whether visual and vestibular signals are integrated within cerebellar circuits that encode self-motion. This study shows that visual roll motion does not alter Purkinje cell activity or gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate cerebellar nodulus and ventral uvula, indicating that visual influences on perceived orientation likely emerge in downstream circuits.
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BibTeX
@article{gomez2026visual,
title = {{Visual motion does not bias gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate cerebellar nodulus and uvula}},
author = {Lex J. Gómez and Robyn L. Mildren and Faisal Karmali and Kathleen E. Cullen},
journal = {PLOS Biology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3003972},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003972},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Visual motion does not bias gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate cerebellar nodulus and uvula
AU - Lex J. Gómez
AU - Robyn L. Mildren
AU - Faisal Karmali
AU - Kathleen E. Cullen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
JO - PLOS Biology
DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003972
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003972
AB - Visual motion is known to influence perceptions of tilt, verticality, and translation, suggesting that optic flow is combined with vestibular cues to estimate orientation relative to gravity. The cerebellar nodulus and ventral uvula (NU) are a prime candidate to perform this computation because this region uniquely receives convergent semicircular canal, otolith, and proprioceptive inputs, and in non-primate species full-field visual motion robustly modulates NU activity. Here, we tested whether visual roll motion, known to bias perceived orientation relative to gravity, alters the internal gravity-referenced transformation used by NU neurons to encode vestibular self-motion. To test this, we recorded single-unit activity from NU Purkinje cells in rhesus macaques during whole-body translations in darkness, either without visual stimulation or after prolonged full-field optokinetic roll motion. We hypothesized that visual motion simulating head tilt would bias the NU’s internal gravity estimate, leading to altered translation-evoked responses. Contrary to this prediction, visual motion had no effect on either baseline firing rates or vestibular responses. Moreover, a computational model predicting visually induced shifts in neural tuning was not supported by the data. These results show that visual roll motion, although known to influence perceived orientation, does not bias gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate NU. This specialization may preserve a fast, body-anchored gravity estimate for postural and reflexive motor control, delegating visual–vestibular integration for perception to downstream circuits. Visual motion can bias perceived orientation relative to gravity, raising the question of whether visual and vestibular signals are integrated within cerebellar circuits that encode self-motion. This study shows that visual roll motion does not alter Purkinje cell activity or gravity-referenced vestibular coding in the primate cerebellar nodulus and ventral uvula, indicating that visual influences on perceived orientation likely emerge in downstream circuits.
SN - 1545-7885
ER -