Neural Control of Voluntary Eye Closure: A Case Study and an fMRI Investigation of Blinking and Winking

The current paper describes a rare case of a patient who suffered from unilateral apraxia of eye closure as a result of a bilateral stroke. Interestingly, the patient’s ability to voluntarily close both eyelids (i.e. blinking) was not affected, indicating that different neural mechanisms control each type of eye closure. The stroke caused damage to a large part of the right frontal cortex, including the motor cortex, pre-motor cortex and the frontal eye field (FEF). The lesion in the left hemisphere was restricted to the FEF. In order to further study the neural mechanisms of eye closure, we conducted an fMRI study in a group of neurological healthy subjects. We found that all areas of the oculomotor cortex were activated by both left and right winking, including the FEF, supplementary eye field (SEF), and posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Blinking activated FEF and SEF, but not PPC. Both FEF and PPC were significantly more active during winking than blinking. Together, these results provide evidence for a critical role of the FEF in voluntary unilateral eye closure.

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Surface-based Map Plasticity of the Sensorimotor Cortex in Hip Disorder at Local and Extensive Levels: A Resting-state fMRI Study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-87128/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jie Ma ◽

Xu-Yun Hua ◽

Mou-Xiong Zheng ◽

Jia-Jia Wu ◽

Bei-Bei Huo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Resting State ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Eye Field ◽

Somatotopic Map ◽

The Right

Abstract Background: Pain is one of the manifestations of hip disorder and has been proven to lead to the remodeling of somatotopic map plasticity in the cortex. However, it’s not clear whether hip disorder with pain induces somatotopic map plasticity in the cortex. We aimed to evaluate the surface-based map plasticity of the somatotopic cortex in hip disorder at local and extensive levels by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).Methods: 20 patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) (12 males and 8 females, age= 56.80±13.60 years) with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores ≥ 4 and 20 healthy controls (9 males and 11 females, age= 54.56±10.23 years) were enrolled in this study. rs-fMRI data and T1 imaging data were collected, and surface-based regional homogeneity (ReHo), seed-based functional connectivity (FC), cortical thickness and the volume of subcortical gray nuclei were calculated.Results: Compared with the healthy controls, the ONFH patients showed signiﬁcantly increased surface-based ReHo in areas distributed mainly in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and frontal eye field, the right frontal eye field and the premotor cortex and decreased surface-based ReHo in the right primary motor cortex and primary sensory cortex. When the area with decreased surface-based ReHo in the frontal eye field and right premotor cortex was used as the regions of interest (ROI), compared with the controls, the ONFH patients displayed increased FC in the right middle frontal cortex and right inferior parietal cortex and decreased FC in the right precentral cortex and right middle occipital cortex. ONFH patients also showed signiﬁcantly decreased cortical thickness in the para-insular area, supplementary motor cortex area and frontal eye field and decreased volume of subcortical gray matter nuclei in the right nucleus accumbens (479.32±88.26 vs 539.44±68.36, P=0.026). Conclusions: Hip disorder patients showed cortical plasticity changes, mainly in sensorimotor and pain-related regions.

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Entrainment of local synchrony reveals a causal role for high-beta right frontal oscillations in human visual consciousness

10.1101/574939 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Marine Vernet ◽

Chloé Stengel ◽

Romain Quentin ◽

Julià L. Amengual ◽

Antoni Valero-Cabré

Keyword(s):

Visual Detection ◽

Critical Role ◽

Causal Link ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Phase Alignment ◽

Visual Behaviors ◽

Eye Field ◽

The Right ◽

High Beta

AbstractPrior evidence supports the critical role of oscillatory activity in cognitive function, but are cerebral oscillations simply correlated or causally linked to specific aspects of visual cognition? Here, EEG signals were recorded on humans performing a conscious visual detection task, while they received briefrhythmicorrandomnoninvasive stimulation patterns delivered to the right Frontal Eye Field prior to the onset of a lateralized target. Compared torandompatterns,rhythmichigh-beta patterns led to greater entrainment of local oscillations (i.e., increased power and phase alignment at the stimulation frequency), and to higher conscious detection of contralateral targets. When stimulation succeeded in enhancing visual detection, the magnitude of oscillation entrainment correlated with visual performance increases. Our study demonstrates a causal link between high-beta oscillatory activity in the Frontal Eye Field and conscious visual perception. Furthermore, it supports future applications of brain stimulation to manipulate local synchrony and improve or restore impaired visual behaviors.

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Saccades, attentional orienting and disengagement: the effects of anodal tDCS over right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and frontal eye field (FEF)

10.1101/2021.01.25.428095 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lorenzo Diana ◽

Patrick Pilastro ◽

Edoardo N. Aiello ◽

Aleksandra K. Eberhard-Moscicka ◽

René M. Müri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parietal Cortex ◽

Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Gap Effect ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Attentional Orienting ◽

Eye Field ◽

Posterior Parietal ◽

The Right

ABSTRACTIn the present work, we applied anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and frontal eye field (FEF) of the right hemisphere in healthy subjects to modulate attentional orienting and disengagement in a gap-overlap task. Both stimulations led to bilateral improvements in saccadic reaction times (SRTs), with larger effects for gap trials. However, analyses showed that the gap effect was not affected by tDCS. Importantly, we observed significant effects of baseline performance that may mediate side- and task-specific effects of brain stimulation.

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The Saccadic System

The Neurology of Eye Movements ◽

10.1093/med/9780199969289.003.0004 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 169-288 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

R. John Leigh ◽

David S. Zee

Keyword(s):

Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽

Laboratory Evaluation ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Supplementary Eye Field ◽

System P ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

Substrate Properties ◽

Eye Field ◽

Posterior Parietal ◽

Parietal Eye

This chapter reviews the behavioral properties of rapid eye movements, ranging from quick phases of nystagmus to cognitively controlled saccades, and their neural substrate. Properties of various types of saccades are described, including express saccades, memory-guided saccades, antisaccades, and saccades during visual search and reading. Current concepts of regions important for the generation of saccades are reviewed, integrating results of functional imaging and electrophysiology, including brainstem burst neurons and omnipause neurons, the superior colliculus, frontal eye field, supplementary eye field, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, posterior parietal cortex, parietal eye field, thalamus, pulvinar, caudate, substantia nigra pars reticulata, subthalamic nucleus, cerebellar dorsal vermis, and fastigial nucleus. Saccade adaptation to novel visual demands is discussed, and the interaction between saccades and eyelid movements (blinks). Mathematical models of saccades are discussed. Clinical and laboratory evaluation of saccades and the pathophysiology of saccadic disorders, from slow saccades to opsoclonus, are reviewed.

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Covert Reorienting and Inhibition of Return: An Event-Related fMRI Study

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892902317236795 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 127-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 112

Author(s):

Jöran Lepsien ◽

Stefan Pollmann

Keyword(s):

Inhibition Of Return ◽

Response Times ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Functional Neuroanatomy ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Supplementary Eye Field ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Eye Field ◽

The Right

Using event-related fMRI, we analyzed the functional neuroanatomy of covert reorienting and inhibition of return (IOR). Covert reorienting to a target appearing within 250 msec after an invalid contralateral location cue elicited increased activation in the left fronto-polar cortex (LFPC), right anterior and left posterior middle frontal gyrus, and right cerebellum, areas that have previously been associated with attentional processes, specifically attentional change. In contrast, IOR, which leads to prolonged response times to targets that appear at the cued location at a stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA)>250 msec, was accompanied by increased activation in brain areas involved in oculomotor programming, such as the right medial frontal gyrus (supplementary eye field; SEF) and the right inferior precentral sulcus (frontal eye field; FEF), supporting the oculomotor bias theory of IOR. Pre-SEF and pre-FEF areas were involved both in covert reorienting and IOR. The supramarginal gyri were bilaterally involved in IOR, with the right supramarginal gyrus additionally involved in covert reorienting.

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Neural mechanisms underlying the temporal control of sequential saccade planning in the frontal eye field

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2108922118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 118 (40) ◽

pp. e2108922118

Author(s):

Debaleena Basu ◽

Naveen Sendhilnathan ◽

Aditya Murthy

Keyword(s):

Neural Control ◽

Saccadic Eye Movements ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Visual Environment ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Capacity Sharing ◽

Eye Field ◽

Saccade Task ◽

Neural Underpinnings

Sequences of saccadic eye movements are instrumental in navigating our visual environment. While neural activity has been shown to ramp up to a threshold before single saccades, the neural underpinnings of multiple saccades is unknown. To understand the neural control of saccade sequences, we recorded from the frontal eye field (FEF) of macaque monkeys while they performed a sequential saccade task. We show that the concurrent planning of two saccade plans brings forth processing bottlenecks, specifically by decreasing the growth rate and increasing the threshold of saccade-related ramping activity. The rate disruption affected both saccade plans, and a computational model, wherein activity related to the two saccade plans mutually and asymmetrically inhibited each other, predicted the behavioral and neural results observed experimentally. Borrowing from models in psychology, our results demonstrate a capacity-sharing mechanism of processing bottlenecks, wherein multiple saccade plans in a sequence compete for the processing capacity by the perturbation of the saccade-related ramping activity. Finally, we show that, in contrast to movement-related neurons, visual activity in FEF neurons is not affected by the presence of multiple saccade targets, indicating that, for perceptually simple tasks, inhibition within movement-related neurons mainly instantiates capacity sharing. Taken together, we show how psychology-inspired models of capacity sharing can be mapped onto neural responses to understand the control of rapid saccade sequences.

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Visually guided saccade versus eye-hand reach: contrasting neuronal activity in the cortical supplementary and frontal eye fields

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1996.75.5.2187 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 75 (5) ◽

pp. 2187-2191 ◽

Cited By ~ 68

Author(s):

H. Mushiake ◽

N. Fujii ◽

J. Tanji

Keyword(s):

Eye Movement ◽

Neuronal Activity ◽

Motor Task ◽

Oculomotor Control ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Frontal Eye Fields ◽

Saccadic Eye Movement ◽

Visually Guided ◽

Supplementary Eye Field ◽

Eye Field

1. We studied neuronal activity in the supplementary eye field (SEF) and frontal eye field (FEF) of a monkey during performance of a conditional motor task that required capturing of a target either with a saccadic eye movement (the saccade-only condition) or with an eye-hand reach (the saccade-and-reach condition), according to visual instructions. 2. Among 106 SEF neurons that showed presaccadic activity, more than one-half of them (54%) were active preferentially under the saccade-only condition (n = 12) or under the saccade-and-reach condition (n = 45), while the remaining 49 neurons were equally active in both conditions. 3. By contrast, most (97%) of the 109 neurons in the FEF exhibited approximately equal activity in relation to saccades under the two conditions. 4. The present results suggest the possibility that SEF neurons, at least in part, are involved in signaling whether the motor task is oculomotor or combined eye-arm movements, whereas FEF neurons are mostly related to oculomotor control.

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Evidence for a supplementary eye field

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1987.57.1.179 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. 179-200 ◽

Cited By ~ 369

Author(s):

J. Schlag ◽

M. Schlag-Rey

Keyword(s):

Unit Activity ◽

Cortical Neurons ◽

Cortical Area ◽

Head Movements ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Unit Recording ◽

Electrical Microstimulation ◽

Preferred Direction ◽

Supplementary Eye Field ◽

Eye Field

Electrical microstimulation and unit recording were performed in dorsomedial frontal cortex of four alert monkeys to identify an oculomotor area whose existence had been postulated rostral to the supplementary motor area. Contraversive saccades were evoked from 129 sites by stimulation. Threshold currents were lower than 20 microA in half the tests. Response latencies were usually longer than 50 ms (minimum: 30 ms). Eye movements were occasionally accompanied by blinks, ear, or neck movements. The cortical area yielding these movements was at the superior edge of the frontal lobe just rostral to the region from which limb movements could be elicited. Depending on the site of stimulation, saccades varied between two extremes: from having rather uniform direction and size, to converging toward a goal defined in space. The transition between these extremes was gradual with no evidence that these two types were fundamentally different. From surface to depth of cortex, direction and amplitude of evoked saccades were similar or changed progressively. No clear systematization was found depending on location along rostrocaudal or mediolateral axes of the cortex. The dorsomedial oculomotor area mapped was approximately 7 mm long and 6 mm wide. Combined eye and head movements were elicited from one of ten sites stimulated when the head was unrestrained. In the other nine cases, saccades were not accompanied by head rotation, even when higher currents or longer stimulus trains were applied. Presaccadic unit activity was recorded from 62 cells. Each of these cells had a preferred direction that corresponded to the direction of the movement evoked by local microstimulation. Presaccadic activity occurred with self-initiated as well as visually triggered saccades. It often led self-initiated saccades by more than 300 ms. Recordings made with the head free showed that the firing could not be interpreted as due to attempted head movements. Many dorsomedial cortical neurons responded to photic stimuli, either phasically or tonically. Sustained responses (activation or inhibition) were observed during target fixation. Twenty-one presaccadic units showed tonic changes of activity with fixation. Justification is given for considering the cortical area studied as a supplementary eye field. It shares many common properties with the arcuate frontal eye field. Differences noted in this study include: longer latency of response to electrical stimulation, possibility to evoke saccades converging apparently toward a goal, and long-lead unit activity with spontaneous saccades.

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Macaque Supplementary Eye Field Neurons Encode Object-Centered Locations Relative to Both Continuous and Discontinuous Objects

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.2000.83.4.2392 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 83 (4) ◽

pp. 2392-2411 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Carl R. Olson ◽

Léon Tremblay

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Macaque Monkey ◽

Direction Selectivity ◽

Reference Image ◽

Minor Effect ◽

Supplementary Eye Field ◽

Level Of Activity ◽

Eye Field ◽

The Right ◽

Horizontal Array

Many neurons in the supplementary eye field (SEF) of the macaque monkey fire at different rates before eye movements to the right or the left end of a horizontal bar regardless of the bar's location in the visual field. We refer to such neurons as carrying object-centered directional signals. The aim of the present study was to throw light on the nature of object-centered direction selectivity by determining whether it depends on the reference image's physical continuity. To address this issue, we recorded from 143 neurons in two monkeys. All of these neurons were located in a region coincident with the SEF as mapped out in previous electrical stimulation studies and many exhibited task-related activity in a standard saccade task. In each neuron, we compared neuronal activity across trials in which the monkey made eye movements to the right or left end of a reference image. On interleaved trials, the reference image might be either a horizontal bar or a pair of discrete dots in a horizontal array. The dominant effect revealed by this experiment was that neurons selectively active before eye movements to the right (or left) end of a bar were also selectively active before eye movements to the right (or left) dot in a horizontal array. An additional minor effect, present in around a quarter of the sample, took the form of a difference in firing rate between bar and dot trials, with the greater level of activity most commonly associated with dot trials. These phenomena could not be accounted for by minor intertrial differences in the physical directions of eye movements. In summary, SEF neurons carry object-centered signals and carry these signals regardless of whether the reference image is physically continuous or disjunct.

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Gaze Palsy as a Manifestation of Todd’s Phenomenon: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10050298 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 298

Author(s):

Karmele Olaciregui Dague ◽

Manuel Dafotakis ◽

Jörg B. Schulz ◽

Rainer Surges

Keyword(s):

Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ◽

Clonic Seizure ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Correct Identification ◽

Eye Field ◽

Narrative Literature Review ◽

Stroke Mimic ◽

Therapeutic Decision Making ◽

The Right ◽

Gaze Palsy

Background: Though Todd’s phenomenon (TP) is a relatively rare occurrence, its correct identification is of key diagnostic and therapeutic importance as a stroke mimic. Here we describe a case of isolated gaze palsy as a manifestation of TP, discuss periictal gaze abnormalities as lateralizing sign involving the frontal eye field (FEF), and present a narrative literature review. Methods: We reviewed the main features of the case and conducted a structured literature search of TP and gaze palsy using PubMed. We restricted the search to publications in English, Spanish, French, and German. Case presentation: A 71-year-old male with a history of right frontotemporal subarachnoid hemorrhage was admitted to the Emergency Department of our institution after suffering a first unprovoked focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizure with ictal gaze deviation to the left. Cranial imaging showed no signs of ischemia, intracerebral hemorrhage, or tumor. The patient presented the following postictal features: involuntary eye deviation to the right due to left-sided gaze palsy and disorientation in time with preserved responsiveness. Eye movements were normal three days later. We concluded that the patient suffered from new-onset epilepsy due to sequelae following the right frontotemporal subarachnoid hemorrhage, affecting the FEF with contralateral ictal gaze deviation, and postictal gaze palsy with ipsilateral eye deviation as an unusual Todd’s phenomenon. Conclusion: Unusual manifestations of TP are uncommon but clinically highly relevant, as they can mimic stroke or epileptic status and are decisive in the diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making process. Though postictal gaze palsy has been reported associated with other deficits, this constitutes, to our knowledge, the first report of isolated gaze palsy as a form of TP. Further research into the underlying causes is needed. Ictal contralateral gaze and head deviation, and probably postictal ipsilateral gaze deviation if present, are very helpful for the lateralization of the seizure-onset zone.

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