[The validity of oculomotor laws].

Abstract

The three-dimensional search coil technique provides a tool to dynamically study the laws on ocular cyclotorsion, which have already been formulated for the static situation, i.e. visual fixations, around 1850. Precise eye movement recordings show that Donders' law and Listing's law can even be violated under physiological conditions, e.g. during saccades. Conversely, experimental lesions of the mesencephalic vertical-torsional pulse generator only lead to small disturbances of Listing's law. Case studies of patients with torsional eye movement disorders indicate that a number of different vestibular and ocular motor pathologies can lead to violations of Listing's law.