ABSTRACT
Studies of the disorders of eye movement control logically require information about the nature of such control in normal subjects as the baseline for diagnosis. There is a large amount of data on pursuit and scanning in normal human adults, the result of several decades of research. However, information about the normal development of eye movement systems, necessary for the evaluation of disorders in infants and children, is much sparser. Relatively lacking too is information about changes in eye movement control that accompany the aging process in otherwise healthy people. The purpose of this chapter is to review the current knowledge about development in two eye movement control systems, pursuit and saccadic scanning, in normal humans across the lifespan. Since many sources, including chapters in the present volume, review the eye movement data available from young adults, only studies specifically on infants, children, and the elderly have been included.
