title: Relationship between brain structure and saccadic eye movements in healthy humans.
abstract: This study used structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate associations between brain structure and saccadic eye movements. Seventeen healthy subjects underwent structural MRI and infra-red oculographic assessment of a reflexive saccade task. Volumes of prefrontal, premotor, and occipitoparietal cortex, caudate, thalamus, and cerebellar vermis were used as predictors in multiple regression with prosaccade gain as a dependent variable, controlling for whole-brain volume. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), gain was entered into correlational analysis with grey matter density. Regression analysis indicated that vermis volumes predicted prosaccade gain. VBM replicated this finding: gain was correlated with grey matter in the left cerebellar hemisphere and vermis. These findings agree with previous studies on the role of the cerebellar vermis in saccadic gain and support the validity of structural neuroimaging methods in elucidating the neural correlates of saccadic eye movements.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cognitive Psychopharmacology, Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ettinger
authors.forename: Veena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumari
authors.forename: Xavier A
authors.initials: XA
authors.lastname: Chitnis
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Corr
authors.forename: Alex L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Sumich
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rabe-Hesketh
authors.forename: Trevor J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: Tonmoy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D012016:Reference Values; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*