Abstract
Saccadic eye movements and the intervening periods of visual fixation represent one of the simplest behavioral systems that have been studied in the primate. The Superior Colliculus (SC) is a key structure in both systems, but only one step in a control system extending from cerebral cortex to the pons. Recent experiments on the saccadic system have shown that a modified feedback system controlling the position of the eyes can explain key aspects of the initiation of saccades by the SC. Identification of a fixation zone within the anterior colliculus Ims emphasized the importance of active fixation. Initial studies of the interaction between these two systems are consistent with the idea that one inhibits the other, and further experiments may provide a model for the study of the interactions between systems.
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Wurtz, R.H., Munoz, D.P. (1993). Saccadic and Fixation Systems of Oculomotor Control in Monkey Superior Colliculus. In: Rudomin, P., Arbib, M.A., Cervantes-Pérez, F., Romo, R. (eds) Neuroscience: From Neural Networks to Artificial Intelligence. Research Notes in Neural Computing, vol 4. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78102-5_25
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