A Study of the Current Spread on Electric Stimulation of the Individual Utricular and Ampullary Nerves

Abstract

In the cat, single vestibular nerve branches were electrically stimulated through implanted electrodes. Different combinations of extraocular muscles were activated by each of the single vestibular nerve branches, and there were three frequency-dependent contraction modes, i.e. the lateral-canal, the verticalcanal and the utricular type. It was shown that these could be utilized for detecting whether single or combined vestibular nerve branches were stimulated.