Reflex and voluntary saccades Flashcards
list the 4 components that make up the ocular motor control hierarchy, and state what each components are responsible for
- supra-nuclear: higher centres
- initiates eye movements for different purposes
- sends motor commands to the relevant… - supra-nuclear: brainstem generator
- is the lower level of the supra nuclear
- function is to activate burst cells (in PPRF and riMLF) which fire particular patterns of activity
- sent via their axons in the… - the inter-nuclear pathway
- = medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) to… - ocular motor neurons
- activating them and causing similar firing patterns
- required for slow or fast contraction of their EOMs
what is the purpose of the supra-nuclear higher centres
- initiates eye movements for different purposes
- sends motor commands to the relevant supra-nuclear brainstem generators (lower part of supra-nuclear)
what is the purpose of the supra-nuclear brainstem generators
- function is to activate burst cells (in PPRF and riMLF) which fire particular patterns of activity
- sent via their axons in the inter-nuclear pathway
what is the purpose of the inter-nuclear pathway
it contains the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) which sends axons to the ocular motor neurons
what is the purpose of the ocular motor neurons
- activating the axons and causing similar firing patterns
- required for slow or fast contraction of their EOMs
what type of gaze is a saccade
fast, conjugate, re-directions of bi-foveal gaze of up to 1000 deg/s
i.e. redirect our foveas to a new object of interest in our FOV
name the two types of saccades
- reflexive: visually cued
- voluntary: internally generated
describe the two types of reflexive saccades
- express to novel stimuli:
- a short latency
- quick shift gaze to find out what stimulus is - when scanning an object of interest
describe the voluntary type of saccade
it is cognitively or memory guided from learned motor routines e.g. reading
it is internally generated by absent will and don’t need something in your FOV at that moment in order to initiate that particular eye movement
name the two brainstem saccade generators and their action
- PPRF: horizontal saccades
- riMLF: vertical saccades
list the 5 higher control centres for mediating fast saccadic eye movements
- frontal eye field
- supplementary eye field
- parietal eye field
- midbrain superior colliculus
- midline cerebellar cortex and nuclei
which eye fields are responsible for voluntary saccades
frontal eye field and supplementary eye field
what type of saccade is the parietal eye field responsible for
reflexive saccades for scanning visual search type
what type of saccade is the midbrain superior colliculus responsible for
reflex express saccades to novel stimuli
what is the midline cerebellar cortex and nuclei responsible for
making sure the saccade happens at the right time and with the right amplitude
what are the two layers of the superior colliculus and what do they do
- superficial layers:
- receive direct retinal inputs from the two retinas and contain maps of the opposite hemifield
- centre to peripheral VF, anterior to posterior SC
- lower to upper VF, lateral to medial SC
- superficial layers connect to deeper layers
- deep layers:
- contain pre motor neurons and a map of the saccade directions, in register with the visual map in the layers above
- centre to peripheral gaze, anterior to posterior SC
- down to up gaze, lateral to medial SC
- the 2nd deeper down layer connects directly to the brainstem generator saccades
activity to which part of the superior colliculus causes saccades around central fixation
anterior activity
saccades around which area does activity in the posterior part of the superior colliculus cause
saccades out into the periphery
which direction does activity in the lateral part of the superior colliculus cause the eyes to move
downwards
which direction does the activity in the medial part of the superior colliculus cause the eyes to move
upwards
what do deep layer neurons of the superior colliculus in the saccade map issue commands to
the brainstem saccade generators
in which two ways can the deep layer neurons of the superior colliculus in the saccade map issue commands to the brainstem saccade generators via
- crossed projections of axons to the PPRF = horizontal saccade generator
and connect to
- bilateral projections of axons to the riMLF = the vertical saccade generator