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Summary: Evidence for the lateral intraparietal area as the parietal
eye field
Richard A. Andersen, Peter R. Brotchie and Pietro Mazzoni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
It has long been appreciated that the posterior parietal cortex plays a
role in the processing of saccadic eye movements. Only recently has it
been discovered that a small cortical area, the lateral intraparietal area,
within this much larger area appears to be specialized for saccadic eye
movements. Unlike other cortical areas in the posterior parietal cortex,
the lateral intraparietal area has strong anatomical connections to other
saccade centers, and its cells have saccade-related responses that begin
before the saccades. The lateral intraparietal area appears to be neither
a strictly visual nor strictly motor structure; rather it performs visuomotor
integration functions including determining the spatial location of saccade
targets and forming plans to make eye movements.
Current Opinion in Neurobiology 1992, 2:84&846
Introduction
When oculomotor physiologists discuss the cortical con-
trol of eye movements, they are typically referring to a
small area in the frontal lobe called the frontal eye fields.
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