ABSTRACT
In the saccadic system, eye velocity commands come from short-lead burst neurons, rather than from the labyrinth as in the vestibulo-ocular reflex, and so the velocity-to-position transformation may work differently here. In 1994, C. Schnabolk and T. Raphan proposed a saccade model in which velocity commands from the burst neurons pass through an integrator to yield position commands. The mechanism is therefore identical in this and the linear plant model: both arrange the plant so that burst neurons code derivatives rather than angular velocity, and both therefore require that the pulling directions of the eye muscles tilt when the eye rotates. Dominic Straumann and colleagues have presented yet another saccadic system model that uses an integrator to convert burst neuron activity into tonic motoneuron firing, but manages to generate smaller torsional blips than Schnabolk and Raphan’s original scheme.
