Response Characteristics of Midbrain Neurons Related to Vergence Eye Movements

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the response characteristics of midbrain neurons related to vergence eye movements. Although the neural control of eye movements has been the subject of a great deal of investigation, most work is directed at elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying conjugate eye movements. Both clinical and experimental evidence suggests that at least at the level of the brainstem the mechanisms controlling vergence eye movements are independent from the circuits involved in the control of conjugate eye movements. For example, the neurological syndrome internuclear ophthalmoplegia, which results from a lesion of the medial longitudinal fasciculus in the brainstem, consists of a paresis or paralysis of adduction of the eyes in conjugate eye movements but not in convergence eye movements. In addition, very little investigation however has been directed at the neural mechanisms controlling vergence eye movements. The chapter outlines the response characteristics of neurons in the brainstem that have recently been implicated in the control of vergence eye movements.