BINOCULAR EYE

MOVEMENTS

POSITIONS OF THE EYE

Anatomical position of rest:
Diverged & deviated upwards,
absence of innervation to the extra-ocular muscles
Physiological position of rest:
Diverged eyes during sleep
less so than in the anatomical position of rest.
Dissociated (fusion free) position:
postural and fixation reflexes, fusion is prevented.
Position of fixation
fixation axes intersect at the point of regard
Vergence:
Near/far point of convergence
Range/relative convergence
Amplitude of convergence

D
E

F
F

Primary position
Cardinal rotation
Secondary
position
Tertiary position
Donders Law
Listing Law

CARDINAL ROTATIONS

Eye Movements

Voluntary

a) Conjunctive
b) Disjunctive

Involuntary

Pyscho Optic

Fusion/ Postural

a) Saccadics
b) Pursuit
c) OKN

a) Static
b) Stato- Kinetic

VOLUNTARY EYE
MOVEMENTS

Conjugate eye
movements:
Versions: Binocular

Ductions: Monocular

VOLUNTARY EYE
MOVEMENTS
Disjunctive eye
movements
The angle between
the fixation axes
changes as the eyes
move in and out. The
eyes rotate in the
opposite directions
Vergence:
Convergence or
divergence

Maddox proposed 4 types of convergence

Tonic
Proximal
Accommodation
Fusional vergence

VOLUNTARY EYE
MOVEMENTS
Tortional movements
Rotation of the eye
about the sagittal axis
(y- axis)
Intorsion: upper pole
of the vertical meridian
of the globe tilting
nasally.
Extortion: upper pole
of the vertical meridian
of the globe tilting
temporally.

Involuntary Ocular
movements
Fusional/Postural
Static postural:
Primitive
Gravity
Stato kinetic eye
reflex
Vestibular system

Psycho-optic
Optokinetic
Nystagmus (OKN or
OKR)
Saccadic
Pursuits

Involuntary Ocular
movements
Static Postural reflex
postural innervation
beyond our control and never reaches our
consciousness

purely reflex action like the knee jerk reflex

Aligns the body with centre of gravity

Stato- Kinetic eye reflex

responds to stimulation of receptors within the
vestibular system
sensitive to movements of the head
originates from semi circular canals of the labyrinth.

Vestibulo-ocular reflex
(VOR)
Unconscious
repositioning of eyes
to compensate for
active & passive head
movement to
stabilize image on
retina.
direction of the eyes
opposite to head
movement, to preserve
image on the center
of the visual field.

Vestibular system (anatomy)

Cochlea: Corti
Semi- circular
canals (rotational
movements)
Otolithic organs
(linear movements)

SEMI-CIRCULAR CANALS
Horizontal, anterior
& posterior
They keep eyes still
while your head
moves
Approx. @ right
angles
Bulbous enlargement
at the base: ampulla
All the canals join the
Ampulla

Cupula
Ampulla contains
the cupula
Sensory hairy
cristae embedded
in the jelly-like
substance
Head rotation
Endolymph swirls

displaces the
cupula

The angular displacement of the cupula causes:

Depolarization:
stimulation of the
vestibular nerve
Hyper
polarization:
inhibition of the
vestibular nerve

 Endolymph in each
semicircular canal
has inertia
Not coupled
directly head
movements
Endolymph lags
behind

LEFT HEAD ROTATION

Left head turn
Endolymph lags behind
Pushes cupula to right
Deflects hair bundles
(crista)
Depolarization

Horizontal canal & medial and

lateral rectus
Excitation occurs when endolymph
moves
towards ampulla in horizontal
canal and
away from the ampulla in
vertical canals

Rotation of head to left

Deflection of hair away
from the rostral
end
Hyperpolarization

Inhibitory

Push Pull effect

When one canal is
stimulated its partner
on the other side of
the head is inhibited.
Vertical canals are
coupled in a cross
fashion.
Excitatory right
anterior with
inhibition of left
posterior.

SEMICIRCULAR CANALS
activated with the
rotation of the head in
the plane of the 6
canals
maximal excitation of
one partner results in
maximum inhibition of
the other

Example of right head

movement
head rotates rightward.
The right horizontal canal hair cells
depolarize.
The right vestibular nucleus (VN) activity
increases,
as does that of motoneurons in the left
abducens (6th) nucleus
The left lateral rectus (lr) muscle contracts
Left abducens nucleus also activates
motoneurons in the right oculomotor (3rd)
nucleus, which contracts the RMR

Both eyes rotate leftward

 The role of the semicircular canal

system is to keep your eyes still
while your head moves.
The system stabilizes the image on
the retina during head rotations
Example: read a sentence while
shaking your head, then keep your
head still and move the page. What
happens?

VOR gain
implulses from the VOR
follow two pathways:
1) direct route to the
motor nerve nuclei
2) indirect route via the
cerebellum.
The difference between
the 2routes is used to
determine and adjust the
overall gain of the VOR.
The cerebellum performs
these adjustments.

VESTIBULAR REFLEXES
The PPRF on the left
generates saccades to the
left in both eyes. As in the
VOR, there are two paths:
1) a direct path which
mediates the phasic
command to move the
eyes.
2) an indirect path via PPH
which generates the tonic
command to hold the eyes
in an eccentric position.

Statokinetic reflexes: co-ordinates

position of eye when the head is
moved in space

Self Study
Describe the pathway, from the semi
circular canals onwards that would be
followed for Caloric Nystagmus (COWS)

PSYCHO-OPTICAL REFLEXES
Involuntary reflexes depending on vision

Optokinetic Reflex
(OKR)
Acquired soon after
birth
re-fixation + following
reflex = OKN
Saccadic + pursuit eye
movements
Fast phase & slow phase

Optokinetic reflex
Active at the low
frequency spectrum
requires movement of
the entire visual
surround.
OKN is an example of
OKR in action.
Responds to constant
image velocity whereas
VOR responds to
acceleration.
OKN : Jerky Nystagmus

PURSUIT & SACCADES

Pursuit

Saccades

Stabilizes the image

frequency of about
1.2Hz
slow phase of the
version will occur in
the direction the
object is moving
consciously
controlled

Resets the image of

the object near the
fovea.
resets the eyes in the
primary position.
rapid versional eye
movement that is
under both voluntary
and reflexive control.

eccentric sound

SACCADIC EYE
MOVEMENTS
Refixation saccades: bring the
image of an eccentric target onto or
near the fovea
Voluntary saccades: occur as result
of instruction
reflex saccades: occur as reflex