Langsame Augenfolgebewegungen

Smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) and saccades are the 2 basic modes of eye movements. SPEM have their optimal velocity range below 30°/s, much slower than saccades. They are needed for visual discrimination of moving objects, by adjusting eye velocity to target velocity. This requires an exact visuo-motor coordination by integrating visual feeedback (retinal image slip) and non-visual feedback (on eye position, eye velocity and the anticipation of target motion). Neuronally this is accomplished by a cortical projection system that combines visual motion signals from the occipito-temporal cortices with non-visual signals from parietal and frontal cortices towards a motor signal that is transmitted from the frontal eye fields to the pontine nuclei und the cerebellum. Lesions of these structures cause specific deficits of SPEM (direction-specific, retinotopic, omnidirectional). We systematically explain their topical diagnosis and clinical relevance.