McGill Department of Physiology • Faculty & Staff Directory

We are continually in motion. This self-motion is sensed by the vestibular system, which contributes to an impressive range of brain functions, from the most automatic reflexes to spatial perception and motor coordination. The objective of Dr. Cullen’s labs research program is to understand the mechanisms by which self motion (vestibular) information is encoded and then integrated with signals from other modalities to ensure accurate perception and control of gaze and posture. Our studies investigate the sensorimotor transformations required for the control of movement, by tracing the coding of vestibular stimuli from peripheral afferents, to behaviorally-contingent responses in central pathways, to the readout of accurate perception and behavior. Our experimental approach is multidisciplinary and includes a combination of behavioral, neurophysiological and computational approaches in alert behaving non-human primates and mice. Funding for the laboratory is provided by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), FQRNT / FQRSC (Quebec), and McGill University.

Recent Publications:
(last 5 years)

Roy J. E. and Cullen K.E.
Selective Processing of Vestibular Reafference during Self Generated Motion J. Neuroscience, 21: 2131-2142, 2001.

Sylvestre P.A., Galiana H.L., and Cullen K.E.
Conjugate and vergence oscillations during saccades and gaze shifts: implications for integrated control of binocular movement. J. Neurophysiol, 87(1):257-72, 2002.

Dubrovsky A.S. and Cullen K.E.
Head, Eye, and Gaze Movement Dynamics During Closed and Open-Loop Head-unrestrained Pursuit J. Neurophysiol, 87(2):859-75, 2002.

Roy J. E. and Cullen K.E.
Vestibuloocular reflex signal modulation during voluntary and passive head movements. J. Neurophysiol, 87(5):2337-57, 2002.

Cullen K.E. and Minor L.B.
Semicircular Canal Afferents Similarly Encode Active And Passive Head-On-Body Rotations: Implications For The Role Of Vestibular Efference. J. Neuroscience, 22 (RC226): 1-7, 2002.

Huterer M. and Cullen K.E.
Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Dynamics During High Frequency And High Acceleration Rotations Of The Head On Body In Rhesus Monkey. J. Neurophysiol, 88: 13-28, 2002.

Sylvestre P.A. and Cullen K.E.
Dynamics of abducens nucleus neuron discharges during disjunctive saccades. J. Neurophysiol, 88:3452-68, 2002.

Sylvestre P.A., Choi J.T.L., and Cullen K.E.
Discharge Dynamics of Oculomotor Neural Integrator Neurons During Conjugate and Disjunctive Saccades and Fixation, J. Neurophysiol , 90:739-54, 2003.

Roy J. E. and Cullen K.E.
Brainstem pursuit pathways: dissociating visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs during combined eye-head gaze tracking. J. Neurophysiol, 90:271-90, 2003.

Roy J. E. and Cullen K.E.
Dissociating Self-Generated from Passively Applied Head Motion: Neural Mechanisms in the Vestibular Nuclei. J. Neuroscience, 24(9):2102-11, 2004.

McClung J. R., Cullen K. E., Shall M. S., Dimitrova1 D. M., and Goldberg S. J.
Effects of Electrode Penetrations Into the Abducens Nucleus of the Monkey: Eye Movement Recordings and Histopathological Evaluation of the Nuclei and Lateral Rectus Muscles. Exp Brain Res 158(2):180-8, 2004.

Vidal P.-P , Degallaix L. , Josset P., Gasc J.-P., And Cullen K.E.
Postural And Locomotor Control In Normal And Vestibularly Deficient Mice. J. Physiol. (Lond) 559(Pt 2):625-38, 2004.

Cullen K.E., Huterer M., Braidwood D.A, and Sylvestre P.A.
Time course of vestibulo-ocular reflex suppression during gaze shifts. J. Neurophysiol. 92(6):3408-22

Cullen K.E and Roy J. E.
Signal Processing in the Vestibular System during Active versus Passive Head Movements. Invited review: J. Neurophysiol. 91(5):1919-33, 2004.

Cullen K.E.
Sensory signals during active versus passive movement
Invited review: Current Opinion in Neurobiol. 14(6):698-706, 2004.

Pathmanathan J., Presnell R., Cromer J.A, Cullen K.E., and Waitzman D.M.
Spatial characteristics of neurons in the central mesencephalic reticular formation (cMRF) of head unrestrained monkeys. Exp Brain Res Nov 15;:1-16, 2005.

Pathmanathan J., Cromer J.A, Cullen K.E., and Waitzman D.M.
Temporal characteristics of neurons in the central mesencephalic reticular formation (cMRF) of head unrestrained monkeys. Exp Brain Res Nov 15;:1-22, 2005.

Sylvestre P.A. and Cullen K.E.
Premotor Correlates of Integrated Feedback Control for Eye-Head Gaze Shifts J. Neuroscience 26: 4922-4929, 2006.

Kathleen Cullen and Soroush Sadeghi (Web publication in Scholarpedia)
Vestibular system. Scholarpedia, 3(1):3013, 2008.