Abstract
Current assumptions concerning body temperature of experimental animals, particularly as it relates to the selection of caloric test stimuli, are likely to be inaccurate guesses. Although the temporal bone of squirrel monkeys attenuates irrigation temperature by a factor of nearly 10, there is a high correlation between thermal changes in inner ear fluid and irrigation values. In this study, nystagmus (defined by electronystagmographic thresholds) occurred when horizontal canal temperatures deviated from resting temperature by +/- 0.14 C.