Gaze-evoked blinks in rhesus monkeys

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Author(s): Hintz, Adam S.
Advisor(s): Basso, Michele A.
Date: 2007
Subject(s): Biology; Neurobiology; Physiology; Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Abstract: Gaze-evoked blinks, blinks that occur during rapid movements of the head and eyes, are believed to be the result of a shared mechanism that is responsible for a blink occurring with a saccade. In humans, it has been found that blinks are more likely to occur with larger saccades. Saccades accompanied with a blink are also more likely when attentional demands are low. Saccades associated with a reflex blink elicited by an air puff in monkeys have been shown to be slower than saccades without a blink. The purpose of the present study was to see if monkeys tested on visually-guided and memory-guided saccade tasks would show the same behavior in gaze-evoked blinks as humans. In this study, similar findings were found of gaze-evoked blinks in monkeys as were found in humans. Gaze-evoked blinks also slowed saccades as was found in reflex blinks elicited by a puff of air.
Description: 13 p.
Permanent link: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/23547
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