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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 577/3/779    most recent jphysiol.2006.113720v2 jphysiol.2006.113720v1 Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Guillaume, A. Articles by Pélisson, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Guillaume, A. Articles by Pélisson, D. Related Collections Neuroscience

¹ UMR CNRS 6152 ‘Mouvement et Perception’, Faculté des Sciences du Sport, Université de la Méditerranée, CP 910, 163, avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
² INSERM, U534, Espace et Action, 16 Avenue Lépine, Bron, F-69500, France
³ Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69003, France; Universié Lyon 1, Biologie Humaine, Lyon F-69003, France
⁴ IFR19, Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon, Lyon, F-69003, France

Shifting gaze requires precise coordination of eye and head movements. It is clear that the superior colliculus (SC) is involved with saccadic gaze shifts. Here we investigate its role in controlling both eye and head movements during gaze shifts. Gaze shifts of the same amplitude can be evoked from different SC sites by controlled electrical microstimulation. To describe how the SC coordinates the eye and the head, we compare the characteristics of these amplitude-matched gaze shifts evoked from different SC sites. We show that matched amplitude gaze shifts elicited from progressively more caudal sites are progressively slower and associated with a greater head contribution. Stimulation at more caudal SC sites decreased the peak velocity of the eye but not of the head, suggesting that the lower peak gaze velocity for the caudal sites is due to the increased contribution of the slower-moving head. Eye–head coordination across the SC motor map is also indicated by the relative latencies of the eye and head movements. For some amplitudes of gaze shift, rostral stimulation evoked eye movement before head movement, whereas this reversed with caudal stimulation, which caused the head to move before the eyes. These results show that gaze shifts of similar amplitude evoked from different SC sites are produced with different kinematics and coordination of eye and head movements. In other words, gaze shifts evoked from different SC sites follow different amplitude–velocity curves, with different eye–head contributions. These findings shed light on mechanisms used by the central nervous system to translate a high-level motor representation (a desired gaze displacement on the SC map) into motor commands appropriate for the involved body segments (the eye and the head).

(Received 17 May 2006; accepted after revision 30 September 2006; first published online 5 October 2006)
Corresponding author Denis Pélisson: INSERM, U534, ‘Espace et Action16 avenue du doyen Lépine, 69676 Bron cedex, France. Email: pelisson{at}lyon.inserm.fr

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