Vestibulo-ocular reflex

The vestibulo-ocular reflex stabilizes gaze by moving the eyes opposite to head motion. It uses signals from the vestibular system to keep images steady on the retina.

Semicircular canals: Three fluid-filled inner-ear canals that detect angular head acceleration. Their sensors initiate the reflex when the head rotates.
Vestibular system: The inner-ear and brain pathways that sense head motion and orientation and support balance. The reflex is one eye-movement function of this broader sensory system.
Head impulse test: A bedside test that uses rapid, small head turns to assess semicircular-canal function. Corrective eye movements after a head impulse can reveal a deficient reflex.
Optokinetic reflex: A tracking response to sustained movement of a broad visual scene across the retina. Unlike this reflex, it is driven by visual motion rather than head-motion signals.
Oscillopsia: The perception that the visual world bounces or moves, often during head motion. Weak gaze stabilization lets images move across the retina and appear unstable.
Otolith organs: The utricle and saccule, inner-ear organs that detect linear acceleration and head tilt relative to gravity. They contribute reflex responses to translation and sustained head tilt.
Angular acceleration: The rate at which angular velocity changes over time. Rotational head acceleration is the principal stimulus detected by the semicircular canals.
Video head impulse test: An instrumented test that records eye and head velocities during rapid head turns. It measures reflex gain and detects corrective saccades objectively.
Smooth pursuit: A voluntary eye movement that tracks a moving visual target smoothly. Pursuit follows target motion, whereas this reflex counters head motion to hold gaze.
Nystagmus: An involuntary rhythmic eye movement with slow drift and corrective fast phases, or another repeating pattern. Abnormal vestibular drive can produce nystagmus and disrupt stable gaze.

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