QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by NEIL, D.M. Articles by MIYAN, J.A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by NEIL, D.M. Articles by MIYAN, J.A.

Journal of Experimental Biology 107,349-366 (1983)
Published by Company of Biologists 1983

Optokinetic Responses, Visual Adaptation and Multisensory Control of Eye Movements in the Spiny Lobster, Palinurus Vulgaris

D.M. NEIL ¹, H. SCHÖNE ², F. SCAPINI ³, and J.A. MIYAN ⁴

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow Permanent address:Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland.
² Max-Planck Institut für Verhaltensphysiology D-8131 Seewiesen, F.R.G.
³ Instituto di Zoologia, Universita di Firenze Permanent address:Firenze, Italy.
⁴ Department of Zoology, University of Edinburgh Present address: West Mains Road, Edinburgh, Scotland.

1. The optokinetic responses of the spiny lobster, Palinurus vulgaris, were measured in the vertical roll plane. The eyes followed the stripes without nystagmus, and demonstrated incomplete bilateral coupling. Closed-loop responses to oscillating stripes (20° peak-to-peak) showed marked habituation at frequencies above 0.1 Hz, but at lower frequencies continued undiminished, with amplitude-gain values approaching 1.0.

2. Changes in illuminance level demonstrated that the optokinetic response exhibited a threshold below which the eye initially failed to detect and follow the stripes. However, over a period of several minutes, the previous response level could be restored or even exceeded.

3. The optokinetic response could be antagonized by a response to the irradiance gradient, which also had a threshold and showed adaptation. Migration of visual screening pigments may underlie these adaptation processes.

4. Optokinetic stimuli could interact with proprioceptive inputs arising from displacements of the legs on a moving platform. When the proprioceptive inputs were of equal frequency and in antiphase, the optokinetic response was reduced in amplitude; it was in phase with the visual stimulus at low frequencies, and in phase with the platform in the high-frequency range. When the inputs had unequal frequencies, the eyes followed the drum if its frequency was low, but failed to follow either drum or platform if drum frequency was high. We conclude that multisensory control extends the frequency range of operation of compensatory eye movements, and is dominated by the low-frequency optokinetic response.

Key words: Optokinetics, vision, lobster

Submitted on February 14, 1983
Accepted on May 6, 1983