Linked Life Data

2340867

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/2340867

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
1990-6-26
pubmed:abstractText
Behavioral and anatomical experiments have suggested that the pulvinar might play a role in the generation of saccadic eye movements to visual targets. To test this idea, we trained monkeys to make visually-guided saccades by requiring them to detect the dimming of a small target. We used three different saccade paradigms. On single-step trials, saccades were made from a central fixation point (FP) to a target at 12, 24 or 36 degrees to the left or right. On overlap trials, the FP remained lit during presentation of a target at 12 or 24 degrees. On double-step trials, the target stepped first to 24 degrees, and then back to 12 degrees on the same side. Animals were trained to criterion, received kainic acid lesions of the pulvinar, and were retested on all three tasks. The lesions were very large, destroying almost all of the visually responsive pulvinar. They also encroached on the lateral geniculate nucleus, thereby producing small foveal scotomas, and this resulted in some behavioral changes, including difficulty in maintaining fixation on the target and in detecting its dimming. Results on the saccade tests suggest that the pulvinar is not crucial for initiation of saccadic eye movements. Saccade latency and amplitude were unimpaired on both single-step and overlap trials. Saccadic performance was also normal on double-step trials. In a second experiment, we measured the average length of fixations during spontaneous viewing of a complex visual scene. Fixation lengths did not differ from those of unoperated control monkeys. We suggest that the neglect, increased saccadic latencies, and prolonged fixations attributed to pulvinar damage in previous studies were probably the result instead of inadvertent damage to tectal afferents. The present results, together with single unit data, point to a role for the pulvinar not in the generation of saccades, but rather in the integration of saccadic eye movements with visual processing.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0014-4819
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
79
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
467-78
pubmed:dateRevised
2009-11-11
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1990
pubmed:articleTitle
Saccadic eye movements following kainic acid lesions of the pulvinar in monkeys.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Physiology, State University of New York, Buffalo 14226.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.