SACCADIC EYE MOVEMENT STUDIES

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心，不一定是研究者所在机构。我们工作的目的是了解大脑是如何运作的。为了做到这一点，我们研究输出（运动）部分，使用眼动系统作为模型，特别是那些被称为扫视眼球运动的快速运动。我们继续我们的研究眼跳产生的脑干机制，最近集中在眼睛的动力学和脑桥被盖网状核（nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis，nnnerve）的功能。我们对眼力学的研究（1）记录了眼睛的动力学，详细说明了大脑如何控制眼球运动的任何假设的重要新限制。我们的研究表明，大约一半的眼跳相关神经元位于nerve（2）可能有助于眼跳系统的适应性可塑性。由于神经元的主要输入来自上级丘，我们也开始研究（4）该结构在适应性可塑性中的作用。我对脑桥喙部长导联爆发神经元的研究（3）发现了可能触发扫视的神经元，并推翻了这些神经元的其他几个假设功能。我们将继续研究与眼跳产生有关的结构的功能，并开始研究（5）中线小脑在这些过程中的作用。这些结果不仅促进了我们对大脑如何处理信息以根据该信息制定行动的理解，而且它们也是基于目前临床上常用的眼动体征的鉴别神经学诊断以及我们对眼动过程的理解的基础。它们还为中枢神经系统功能的更复杂方面的研究提供了基础，例如运动系统之间的相互作用（例如，定向期间的眼睛和头部）或感觉和运动系统（例如，视觉和眼动系统）和更抽象的功能，如注意力。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The goal of our work is to understand how the brain functions. To do this, we study the output (motor) portions, using the oculomotor system as a model, specifically those fast movements known as saccadic eye movements. We continue our studies of brainstem mechanisms of saccade generation and have recently focused on the dynamics of the eye and the function of the nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis (nrtp). Our study on eye mechanics (1) documented the dynamics of eye detailing important new constraints on any hypothesis of how eye movements are controlled by the brain. Our study of the nrtp (2) showed that about half the saccade-related neurons located therein may contribute to adaptive plasticity of the saccade system. Because the major input to nrtp comes from the superior colliculus, we have begun to study (4) the role of that structure in adaptive plasticity as well. My investigation of the long-lead burst neurons of the rostral pons (3) identified neurons that may act as a trigger for saccades and disproved several other previously hypothesized functions for these neurons. We continue to investigate the functions of the structures involved in saccade production and are beginning to study (5) the role of the midline cerebellum in those processes. These results not only advance our understanding of how the brain processes information in order to formulate actions based on that information, but they are also basic to the differential neurological diagnosis based on eye-movement signs now commonly used clinically as well as to our understanding of oculomotor processes. They also provide a foundation for studies of more complex aspects of central nervous system function such as interactions between motor systems (e.g., eye and head during orientation) or sensory and motor systems (e.g., the visual and oculomotor systems) and more abstract functions such as attention.