Abstract
When the eyes were closed, the eyes were suddenly adducted 13±5° and elevated 55±11° in 24 normal adults. These movements were also seen with eyes closed during caloric nystagmus, one form of vestibular nystagmus. Caloric nystagmus was strongly inhibited by eye-closure and its inhibition depended on the degree of eyeball elevation caused by eye-closure. With a turning down of the vertical eye position, caloric nystagmus inhibition was released.
Disturbances in eyeball elevation during eye-closure were seen in the following cases.
1. Disturbance in eyeball elevation itself was seen in cases of oculomotor palsy.
2. Sudden turning down of eyeball elevation was seen in cases of sudden loss of inner ear function, cerebellar diseases, lateral pontine lesions and of cerebral lesions.
3. A gradually increase in eyeball elevation was also seen in cases of epilepsy, etc.
