Covert saccades improve dynamic visual stability in bilateral vestibular dysfunction

Introduction: Patients affected by bilateral vestibulopathy are unable to stabilize gaze during head movements and experience disturbing oscillopsia. This affects everyday activities. To compensate for their impaired vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), they have to trigger re-fixation saccades: some can perform short-latency saccades (“covert”) during head movements, others only initiate saccades afterwards (“overt”). It has been supposed that short-latency “covert” saccades are particularly beneficial to improve dynamic visual stability and reduce oscillopsia. Goals: To investigate the effect of “covert” saccades on…