Neurology

Our Specialists

Sensory Motor Neurology

Gary Paige, M.D., Ph.D.

585-275-6395

Current Titles and Roles

Professor and Chair, Neurobiology and Anatomy
Professor of Neurology, Ophthalmology, Surgery (Otolaryngology), Brain and Cognitive Science, Center for Visual Science

Degrees, Certifications, and Licenses

Prior Work History

1985-1990, Departments of Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology

1986-1990, Department of Neurology

1987-1990, Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MI

Clinical Specialties

Dizziness and balance disorders, eye movement disorders, spatial orientation

Highlights

Research

Navigation and the control of spatial orientation are crucial attributes of daily life. Both are fundamental tasks of the nervous system, and both depend upon multiple sensory inputs that are integrated to control spatial behaviors, including simple ones such as walking. The vestibular system in particular evolved exclusively to control oculomotor and postural reflexes, as well as perceptions dedicated to spatial orientation and navigation. The overall goal of our research is to understand how the primate (including human) vestibular input interacts with visual and auditory modalities to achieve accurate spatial perceptions, and how they coordinate meaningful behavior such as head and binocular eye movements that acquire and maintain precise fixation on elements of our environment. These tasks are essential even for routine daily activities. An equally important aspect is how plastic neural mechanisms are utilized to register errors and in turn adaptively adjust performance in order to maintain proper spatial calibration across sensory modalities. An applied concern is the deterioration of spatial orientation, localization, and adaptive plasticity with natural aging.

Current interests center on several intriguing problems. One is how the brain utilizes visual and auditory information about target location and motion in order to modulate the remarkably rapid vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) so as to maintain fixation and avoid visual blur during head and body movements, and how motor conditions (e.g. eye position, binocular fixation distance--vergence) are involved in this process. Another concern is how angular (from the semicircular canals) and linear (from the otoliths) vestibular inputs interact with each other and with visual and auditory modalities. An intriguing complication entails a limitation in the physics of linear force detection (Einstein’s “equivalency principle”). As biological linear accelerometers, the otolith organs cannot readily distinguish accelerations due to head tilt (relative to gravity) from those arising during translation, and yet relevant behaviors and perceptions associated with these two forms of motion differ greatly. We are characterizing the compromised but fascinating solutions that have evolved to resolve this sensory ambiguity. Finally, we are investigating how auditory and visual depict ions of location and motion are affected by the content and temporal characteristics of spatial targets, and how all sensory modalities are plastically co-calibrated by cross-sensory experience.

Academic Activity