PULVINAR LESIONS IN MONKEYS PRODUCE ABNORMAL SCANNING OF A COMPLEX VISUAL ARRAY

Eye movements of normal monkeys and monkeys with pulvinar lesions were recorded on video tape as the animals spontaneously scanned a complex stimulus array. During the test session, color was added to one stimulus in the array. Although monkeys with pulvinar lesions were not impaired in either visual orientation or habituation to this novel stimulus, their eye movements were abnormal in two ways. First, they appeared visually captured by the stimuli, making few saccades off the array. Second, their fixations were abnormally prolonged. These eye-movement abnormalities appeared to be associated with a disorder in visual processing rather than an impairment in oculomotor control. © 1979.