We explore our visual world using a number of different eye movement systems that allow us to control the direction of gaze and maintain clear vision during locomotion. Visual inputs provide the required control signals for most oculomotor system functions. During early postnatal development, the visual and oculomotor systems interact to produce normal ocular alignment, stereoscopic vision and acuity. Our studies are directed at defining the neural mechanism that support visually elicited eye movements in primates. We measure eye movements, precisely, by electromagnetic means and relate it to the activity of neurons in different visual cortical and brainstem regions to smooth pursuit, ocular following, and optokinetic eye movements. We propose developmental studies to determine the neural mechanisms responsible for, clinically important, abnormal eye movements syndromes such as latent nystagmus, smooth pursuit asymmetry, strabismus and gaze instability often associated with problems in the early development of binocular vision. The results obtained in these studies will improve our understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying normal and pathological smooth eye movements. This understanding is necessary for the diagnosis and management of ocular-motility disorders.
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