Center for Sensorimotor Research, Department of Neurology, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
Address for correspondence: Stefan Glasauer, Department of Neurology, Klinikum Grosshadern, LMU München, 81377 München, Germany. Voice: +49 89 7095 4839; fax: +49 89 7095 4801.
sglasauer{at}nefo.med.uni-muenchen.de
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1004: 206-219 (2003).
The possible role of the cerebellum for the control of saccades
and gaze holding is reconsidered using a computational modeling
approach. As suggested by previous research, control of gaze
holding is assumed to be enhanced by the floccular lobe, whereas
control of the saccadic pulse is governed by the oculomotor
vermis and fastigial nucleus. In the present work, a negative
feedback loop via the paramedian tract neurons and the floccular
lobe that contains a forward model of the oculomotor plant is
supposed to enhance the time constant of the brainstem integrator.
Control of saccadic amplitude is hypothesized to be achieved
by a more complex network: feedforward projections from the
superior colliculus via the nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis
to the oculomotor vermis and fastigial nucleus cooperate with
feedback connections from excitatory burst neurons to overcome
the sluggishness of the assumed local feedback loop formed via
the superior colliculus and to implement inverse dynamics of
downstream neural and motor processing.
