Repeated Vertical Semicircular Canal Stimulation Does not Habituate Horizontal Nystagmus in Cat

Abstract

A group of cats was exposed to a series of angular accelerations about a vertical rotatory axis with the head tilted so that a synergic pair of vertical canals were in the plane of rotation, and then tested with the lateral canals in the plane of rotation. This group was compared with a second group that received only lateral canal stimulation, and with a third group that received neither lateral nor vertical canal stimulation. It was found that repeated acceleration of the vertical canals does not reduce that nystagmus elicited with the lateral canals accelerated in the plane of rotation.