An investigation of the mechanisms of eye movement control

Summary

Feedback mechanisms exist in all the periferal sense organs including the eye, which acts as a highly efficient position control servo system. Histological studies so far have not revealed the precise circuitry of the eye movement control system but some information about it can be obtained by a study of the sources of feedback. Existing theories have considered three types of feedback originating in the oculomotor tract, in the proprioceptive fibres of the extrinsic eye muscles and from retinal image displacement. In the present experiments an optical arrangement has been used to vary or eliminate the amount of information available from retinal image motion, and the response of the eye to simple harmonic displacement of a target has been recorded. The response curves of gain (eyeball movement divided by target motion) against frequency indicate that the system is lion linear when the image falls in the retinal region which is insensitive to position. Outside this area, retinal image position is used as negative feedback but the information from the oculomotor tract must be regenerative. There is also evidence for feedback proportional to the first derivative of eyeball position and this function is ascribed to the proprioceptive signals; this form of feedback appears to saturate for large amplitude movements, thus avoiding heavy damping of the flick movements.

A schematic eye movement control system having the same characteristics as the eye is proposed. The transfer function of this system indicates that it should be unstable if the sign of the retinal image feedback loop is reversed. Experiments with this form of feedback show that steady fixation is impossible and the eye performs a pendular nystagmus.