ABSTRACT

The ocular motor system is the best-understood motor system. Because three-dimensional eye rotations can be measured with precision and analyzed using mathematical models, eye movement research is an invaluable tool for investigating common mechanisms of motor systems. Over the last decade, a wealth of new data from animal studies has expanded and modified traditional schemes of premotor organization of the ocular motor system. In this chapter, I review functional mechanisms concerned with programming eye movements at the brainstem level and present current knowledge of their neural substrate, along with some clinical disorders of supranuclear gaze control.