Vestibular System Practice Test

The mechanism that keeps vision steady during head movement is the vestibulo-ocular reflex. When the head turns, the semicircular canals detect that angular motion and send signals to the vestibular nuclei, which then drive eye muscles to move the eyes in the opposite direction. This opposite, equal-force eye movement stabilizes the image on the retina so that the view remains stable even as your head moves. The visual cortex and retina are involved in processing what you see, but they don’t generate this compensatory action themselves, and the auditory system isn’t involved in gaze stabilization.