Optomotor response

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The optomotor response has algorithmic properties such that the direction of the whole-field coherent motion dictates the direction of the behavioral output (e.g., leftward visual stimuli lead to turning left, and rightward visual stimuli lead to turning right).

[10] The optomotor response is essential for animals to correct unplanned course perturbations while navigating through their environment, such as current shifts around a swimming fish or air gusts around flying insects.

In zebrafish, the optomotor response is frequently used as a metric of visual performance as it can be reliably evoked from 7 days post fertilization throughout adulthood.

To describe the physiological or behavioral properties of the optomotor response, researchers typically vary the spatial period of projected visual patterns and their velocity.

Both behavioral and physiological optomotor responses have distinct tuning curves for the temporal, spatial and contrast structure of moving images.