Using Eye Movements as an Experimental Probe of Brain Function: A Symposium in Honor of Jean Buttner-Ennever

This volume of Progress in Brain Research is based on the contributions by the participants of the 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 Buttner-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.