Summary
Monkeys were trained to make visually evoked eye movements while undergoing simultaneous head rotation. Single units were recorded in the pregeniculate nucleus (PGN). PGN neurons discharged during each saccade, but there was no change in activity with horizontal head acceleration or with various combinations of head and smooth pursuit eye movements as previously described in the cat. Therefore, the anatomical homology between LGNv and PGN does not appear to have a neurophysiological basis. Neurons in the oral part of VPL or occasionally in VPI discharged as a function of head velocity but not with saccades, smooth pursuit or fixation eye movements, nor after brief light flashes or during smooth pursuit across structured backgrounds. This suggests that VPLo and VPI are only vestibular relay nuclei and not concerned with vestibular/visual or vestibular/oculomotor interactions.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the histological talents of Donna Simmons, the veterinary care provided by Stan Crossman and Margaret Price, the surgical assistance of Doug Hasund, the secretarial help of Jean Scalf, and the editorial comments of Kate Schmitt.
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On leave from Laboratoire de Neuropsychologie Expérimentale, INSERM U 94, 16, av. Doyen Lépine, 69500 Bron, France
This research was supported by grants RR00166, GM00260 and EY00745 from the National Institutes of Health, U. S. Public Health Service, and by a grant from INSERM.
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Magnin, M., Fuchs, A.F. Discharge properties of neurons in the monkey thalamus tested with angular acceleration, eye movement and visual stimuli. Exp Brain Res 28, 293–299 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235710
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235710