Saccade abnormalities associated with focal cerebral lesions - How cortical and basal ganglia commands shape saccades in humans.

Objective: To study saccade abnormalities associated with focal cerebral lesions, including the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia (BG).

Methods: We studied the latency and amplitude of reflexive and voluntary saccades in 37 patients with focal lesions of the frontal and parietal cortices and BG (caudate and putamen), and 51 age-matched controls, along with the ability to inhibit unwanted reflexive saccades.

Results: Latencies of reflexive saccades were prolonged in patients with parietal lesions involving the parietal eye field (PEF), whereas their amplitude was decreased with parietal or putaminal lesions.