Edited by
R. Leigh, Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA
Christopher Kennard, Academic Unit of Neuroscience, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK
Description
This volume of
Progress in Brain Research is based on the proceedings of a conference, "Using Eye Movements as an Experimental
Probe of Brain Function," held at the Charing Cross Hospital Campus of Imperial College London, UK on 5th -6th December, 2007 to honor
Professor Jean Büttner-Ennever. With 87 contributions from international experts – both basic scientists and clinicians – the volume
provides many examples of how eye movements can be used to address a broad range of research questions. Section 1 focuses on extraocular
muscle, highlighting new concepts of proprioceptive control that involve even the cerebral cortex. Section 2 comprises structural, physiological,
pharmacological, and computational aspects of brainstem mechanisms, and illustrates implications for disorders as diverse as opsoclonus,
and congenital scoliosis with gaze palsy. Section 3 addresses how the cerebellum transforms neural signals into motor commands, and how
disease of such mechanisms may lead to ataxia and disorders such as oculopalatal tremor. Section 4 deals with sensory-motor processing
of visual, vestibular, somatosensory, and auditory inputs, such as are required for navigation, and gait. Section 5 illustrates how eye
movements, used in conjunction with single-unit electrophysiology, functional imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and lesion
studies have illuminated cognitive processes, including memory, prediction, and even free will. Section 6 includes 18 papers dealing
with disorders ranging from congenital to acquired forms of nystagmus, genetic and degenerative neurological disorders, and treatments
for nystagmus and motion sickness.
Included in series
Progress in Brain Research
Audience:
Neuroscientists, neurologists, opthalmologists, cognitive neuroscientists, and visual sciences.
