Oculomotor Control
Description
The foveal region of the eye allows vision at high spatial resolution. Accordingly, humans are required to move their eyes to bring objects of interest into the fovea. Such foveating eye movements are classified as saccades, smooth pursuit, or vergence eye movements. Fixation is accompanied by microsaccades, tremor and drifts, avoiding the fading of the visual image. The Vestibular Ocular Reflex (VOR) and the Optokinetic Reflex (OKR) aim at stabilizing the retinal image of the outer world during self-motion. Traditionally, eye movements have also been studied for medical purposes. Lesions of specific brain structures as well as cognitive or developmental deficits can cause pathological oculomotor behavior.
Self-Identification
Oculomotor research has become a discipline on its own within the Neurosciences. Traditionally, anatomical and lesion studies were used to determine the neural circuits underlying normal oculomotor behavior. With the advance of new experimental...
References
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