Vision in most animals follows a fixate-and-saccade pattern. 1 , 2 Birds fixate their viewing direction, then rapidly shift this gaze through head and eye movements. We used a head-mounted eye-tracking system in flying pigeons to relate eye to head movement and map eye position within the head. After take-off, the birds increased their pupil size and adopted a fixed and consistent eye position in their heads....
No actionable change for clinical audiology practice; this is basic animal neuroscience with potential long-term translational relevance to vestibulo-ocular reflex research.
Understanding gaze stabilization mechanisms in birds may offer insights into vestibulo-ocular reflex (the eye-balance coordination reflex) function that could eventually inform vestibular rehabilitation science.
- 01Pigeons use a fixate-and-saccade gaze strategy to stabilize vision during flight.
- 02Both head and eye movements are tightly coordinated in this stabilization pattern.
- 03Published in Current Biology (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.05.064).
- 04Findings are basic science and not directly applicable to clinical vestibular practice.
- 05May have distant relevance to understanding vestibulo-ocular reflex mechanisms.
Pigeons stabilize gaze during flight using a fixate-and-saccade pattern of coordinated head and eye movements.
studysupported- PMID
- 42309050
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cub.2026.05.064.
- Journal
- Current Biology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Pigeons during free flight
- Intervention
- Observation of gaze stabilization behavior during flight
Primary outcomes
Gaze fixation duration and pattern during flight; Coordination of head and eye movement during saccades