title: Horizontal saccade dynamics after childhood monocular enucleation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the effects of monocularity on oculomotor control by examining the characteristics of the horizontal saccades of people with one eye, and comparing them to those of a group of age-matched controls who viewed the stimuli monocularly and binocularly.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were tested in a no-gap, no-overlap saccadic task using a video-based remote eye tracker. One group consisted of unilaterally eye enucleated participants (N = 15; mean age, 31.27 years), the other of age-matched people with normal binocular vision (N = 18; mean age, 30.17 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The horizontal saccade dynamics of enucleated people are similar to those of people with normal binocularity when they view monocularly and, with the exception of latency, when they view binocularly. The data show that the monocular saccades of control and enucleated observers have longer latencies than the binocular saccades of the control group, the saccades of the enucleated observers are as accurate as those of the controls viewing monocularly or binocularly, smaller saccades are more accurate than the larger ones, and abducting saccades are faster than adducting saccades.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that the true monocularity produced by early enucleation does not result in slower visual processing in the afferent (sensory) pathway, or in deficits in the efferent (motor) pathways of the saccadic system. Possible mechanisms to account for the effects of monocular vision on saccades are discussed.
authors: Vision Science Research Program, Toronto Western Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.
authors: Esther G
authors: EG
authors: González
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Lillakas
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Lam
authors: Brenda L
authors: BL
authors: Gallie
authors: Martin J
authors: MJ
authors: Steinbach
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D015353:Eye Enucleation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011184:Postoperative Period; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D015349:Vision, Monocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: binocularity; enucleation; monocular vision; saccade amplitude gain; saccade latency; saccade peak velocity; saccades