title: The menace reflex.
abstract: The menace reflex (blink reflex to visual threat) tests visual processing at the bedside in patients who cannot participate in normal visual field testing. We reviewed a collection of recently discovered historical movies showing the experiments of the Dutch physiologist Gysbertus Rademaker (1887-1957), exploring the anatomy of this reflex by making cerebral lesions in dogs. The experiments show not only that the menace reflex is cortically mediated, but also that lesions outside the visual cortex can abolish the reflex. Therefore, although often erroneously used in this way, an absent menace does not always indicate a visual field deficit.
authors: Department of Neurology, St. Lucas Andreas Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Wouter J C
authors: WJ
authors: van Ballegoij
authors: Department of Neurology, Atrium Medical Center, Heerlen, The Netherlands.
authors: Peter J
authors: PJ
authors: Koehler
authors: Department of Neurology, St. Lucas Andreas Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Neurology, Zaans Medisch Centrum, Zaandam, The Netherlands.
authors: Bastiaan C Ter
authors: BC
authors: Meulen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000266:history / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000662:veterinary; D004285:Dogs; D005239:Fear; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Blink reflex; Garcin; Hemianopia; Menace reflex; Rademaker