Fig. 3: Impact of visual and vestibular stimuli on eye movements.

a A schematic representation of the three experimental paradigms implemented: visual (top), vestibular (middle) and visuovestibular (bottom). Arrows indicate direction of stimuli movement for both visual (green) and vestibular stimulation (black). A recording electrode was placed in the right dorsal rectus muscle. b–e Graphs showing EMG activity in terms of spikes number in response to visual (VIS), vestibular (VES), and visuovestibular (VISVES) stimulations during four different stimulation protocols in terms of amplitude and velocity. Amplitude refers to the peak tilting angle of the platform, and speed to the motion velocity of the platform or the visual stimulus. Significance between modalities is represented by stars in each graph and was retrieved through paired T-tests: Low amplitude low speed (VES to VISVES t(23) = −4.802, p < 0.001; n = 24 recordings from eight animals), Low amplitude high speed (VIS to VES t(36) = −3.346, p = 0.002 p = 0.002 and VES to VISVES t(38) = −2.930, p = 0.006 p = 0.006; n = 37 recordings from 13 animals), High amplitude low speed (VIS to VES t(22) = −11.559, p < 0.001, p < 0.001; n = 24 recordings from eight animals), High amplitude high speed (VIS to VES t(27) = −13.808, p < 0.001; n = 29 recordings from ten animals). f–i Graphs showing EMG activity in terms of maximum amplitudes in response to VIS, VES and VISVES stimulations during four different stimulation protocols ((g) VES to VISVES t(38) = −2.475, p = 0.018, n = 37 recordings from 13 animals; (h) VIS to VES t(23) = −6.315, p < 0.001, n = 24 recordings from eight animals; VES to VISVES t(22) = −2.614, p = 0.016, and (i) VIS to VES t(28) = −15.457, p < 0.001, n = 29 recordings from ten animals). j, k Representative responses for the lowest (j) and the highest intensity (k). The blue area indicates the duration of the roll movement, yellow the duration of static tilt, and the red dotted rectangle signifies ongoing optokinetic stimulation. All T-tests were two-tailed with no corrections. Throughout the figure, data are presented as mean values ± SD. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.