Eye movements induced by electrical stimulation of the frontal eye fields of marmosets and squirrel monkeys.

Abstract

Two or three sites in the region of the frontal lobe of marmoset and squirrel monkey are definable as frontal eye fields (FEF) on the basis of electrical stimulation which results in slow and/or saccadic eye movements. In the squirrel monkey these are located on the banks of the arcuate and principal sulci; in the marmoset at estimated analogous locations. Eye ball deviations result from stimulation of these sites with a return to initial position at the end of stimulation. The induced eye movements included large, slow eye movements of varying speeds, micro- and macro-saccades, pendular eye movements, and saccadic stairways. The direction of these eye movements depended on the site stimulated. Both smooth slow and saccadic eye movements were obtained even with stimulation of the same site, depending on the stimulus intensity and the depth of anesthesia. A precise relationship between the site stimulated and the type of eye movement elicited could not be established in these species. Effective stimulus was 300 Hz frequency, 0.2-0.5 ms pulse duration, 0,05-0.05 mA current, and trains of 4-160 pulses. Characteristically, sites for induction of saccadic eye movements were frontal to sites for induction of slow eye movements.