Frontal eye fields

Brain: Frontal eye fields
Frontal eye fields is roughly located between regions #4, #6, and #8

The frontal eye fields (FEF) is a region located in the premotor cortex,^[1] which is part of the frontal cortex of the primate brain.

Function

The frontal eye field is reported to be activated during the initiation of eye movements, such as voluntary saccades^[2] and pursuit eye movements. There is also evidence that it plays a role in purely sensory processing and that it belongs to a “fast brain” system through a superior colliculus – medial dorsal nucleus – FEF ascending pathway.^[3] In humans, its earliest activations in regard to visual simuli occurr at 45 ms with activations related to changes in visual stimuli within 45–60 ms (these are comparable with response times in the primary visual cortex).^[3] This fast brain pathway also provides auditory input at even shorter times starting at 24 ms and being affected by auditory characteristics at 30–60 ms.^[3] The FEF constitutes together with the supplementary eye fields (SEF), the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and the superior colliculus (SC) one of the most important brain areas involved in the generation and control of eye movements.

Location and Connectivity

In humans, the FEF is located at the junction of the precentral sulcus and the superior frontal sulcus. The FEF receives input from many cortical and subcortical regions, but the denser connections came from the opposite frontal eye field, area 46 of the prefrontal region, the supplementary eye field (SEF) (Schall et al., 1993), the principal sulcus, posterior parietal cortex (including area 7), the middle temporal (MT), the lateral intraparietal (LIP), V4 of the occipital lobe, the thalamus (including the medial pulvinar and intralaminar nuclei), and the pretectal nuclei (Schnyder et al., 1985; Stanton et al., 1988a; 1988b), the superior colliculus, and the cerebellar dentate nucleus (Huerta et al., 1987; Stanton et al., 1995; Stanton et al., 1988a, 1988b). As it receives many inputs, FEF projects to multiple targets including the superior colliculus (SC), the basal ganglia, thalamus, pretectal region, the region of omnipause neurons of the pontine raphe (Huerta et al., 1986; Leichnetz, 1981; Schnyder et al., 1985; Stanton et al., 1988a; 1988b), as well as the region of V4 in the occipital lobe.

See also

• Saccadic eye movement
• Pursuit movement
• Supplementary eye fields
• IPS / LIP

References

• Burman, DB, Segraves, MA. 1994. Primate Frontal Eye Field Activity During Natural Scanning Eye Movements. J Neuroph vol. 71 No. 3:1266-1271

• Huerta MF, Krubitzer LA, Kaas JH. 1986. Frontal eye field as defined by intracortical microstimulation in squirrel monkeys, owl monkeys, and macaque monkeys: I. Subcortical connections. J Comp Neurol 253(4):415-439.

• Huerta MF, Krubitzer LA, Kaas JH. 1987. Frontal eye field as defined by intracortical microstimulation in squirrel monkeys, owl monkeys, and macaque monkeys. II. Cortical connections. J Comp Neurol 265(3):332-361.

• Huerta MF, Kaas JH. 1990. Supplementary eye field as defined by intracortical microstimulation: Connections in macaques. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 293(2):299-330.

• Berman, R. A. et al. (1999). "Cortical networks subserving pursuit and saccadic eye movements in humans: an FMRI study". Human Brain Mapping 8 (4): 209–25. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0193(1999)8:4<209::AID-HBM5>3.0.CO;2-0. PMID 10619415. 

• Schiller PH, Chou IH (1998). "The effects of frontal eye field and dorsomedial frontal cortex lesions on visually guided eye movements". Nat. Neurosci. 1 (3): 248–53. doi:10.1038/693. PMID 10195151. http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v1/n3/full/nn0798_248.html.