Electrical stimulation of the frontal eye field in a monkey produces combined eye and head
movements.
Tu, Tyson A., and E. Gregory Keating.
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and the Program in Neuroscience, SUNY
Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210
APStracts 7:0288J, 2000.
The frontal eye field (FEF), an area in the primate frontal lobe, has long been considered
important for the production of eye movements. Past studies have evoked saccade-like
movements from the FEF using electrical stimulation in animals that were not allowed to move
their heads. Using electrical stimulation in two monkeys that were free to move their heads, we
have found that the FEF produces gaze shifts that are composed of both eye and head
movements. Repeated stimulation at a site evoked gaze shifts of roughly constant amplitude.
However, that gaze shift could be accomplished with varied amounts of head and eye
movements, depending upon their (head and eye) respective starting positions . This evidence
suggests that the FEF controls visually orienting movements using both eye and head rotations
rather than just shifting the eyes as previously thought.
Received 18 January 2000; accepted in final form 2 May 2000
APS Manuscript Number J036-0.
Article publication pending Am J Physiol
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 2000 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 12 May 2000