title: Using the eye-movement system to control the head.
abstract: We tested the hypothesis that A.I., a subject who has total ophthalmoplegia, resulting in a lack of eye movements, used her head to orientate in a qualitatively similar way to eye-based orientating of control subjects. We used four classic eye-movement paradigms and measured A.I.'s head movements while she performed the tasks. These paradigms were (i) the gap paradigm, (ii) the remote-distractor effect, (iii) the anti-saccade paradigm, and (iv) tests of saccadic suppression. In all cases, A.I.'s head saccades were qualitatively similar to previously reported eye-movement data. We conclude that A.I.'s head movements are probably controlled by the same neural mechanisms that control eye movements in unimpaired subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, UK. i.d.gilchrist@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Gilchrist
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Findlay
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D019416:Head Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009886:Ophthalmoplegia / Q000503:physiopathology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology