Extracellular unit activity of cortical vestibular projections was recorded in wakeful, immobilized and artificially respirated cats. Natural vestibular stimulation included both sinusoidal and trapezoidal position profiles in the horizontal plane. Tonic and phasic neurons were discriminated. The responses of phasic neurons were direction-specific. The transformation of the vestibular signals by cortical neurons had quasilinear properties: linearity existed only in the velocity range from 0 to 30-50 deg.s-1. A conclusion is made that only a complex of responses of direction-specific neurons can give the full information about changes in the angular velocity.
Acceleration Animals