Eye movement

Eye movement includes the voluntary or involuntary movement of the eyes. Eye movements are used by a number of animals (e.g. primates, rodents, flies, birds, fish, cats, crabs, octopus) to fixate, inspect and track visual objects of interests. A special type of eye movement, rapid eye movement, occurs during REM sleep.

The eyes are the visual organs of the human body, and move using a system of six muscles. The retina, a specialised type of tissue containing photoreceptors, senses light. These specialised cells convert light into electrochemical signals. These signals travel along the optic nerve fibers to the brain, where they are interpreted as vision in the visual cortex.

Primates and many other vertebrates use three types of voluntary eye movement to track objects of interest: smooth pursuit, vergence shifts and saccades. These types of movements appear to be initiated by a small cortical region in the brain's frontal lobe. This is corroborated by removal of the frontal lobe. In this case, the reflexes (such as reflex shifting the eyes to a moving light) are intact, though the voluntary control is obliterated.

Six extraocular muscles facilitate eye movement. These muscles arise from the common tendinous ring (annulus of Zinn) in the orbit (eye cavity), and attach to the eyeball. The six muscles are the lateral, medial, inferior and superior recti muscles, and the inferior and superior oblique muscles. The muscles cause movement of the eyeball by pulling the eyeball towards the muscle when contracting and by letting it go when relaxing. For example, the lateral rectus is on the lateral side of the eyeball. When it contracts, the eyeball moves so that the pupil looks outwards. The medial rectus causes the eyeball to look inwards; the inferior rectus downwards and outwards, and the superior rectus upwards and outwards. The superior oblique muscle and inferior oblique muscle attach at angles to the eyeball. The superior oblique muscle moves the eye downwards and inwards whereas the inferior oblique muscle moves the eye upwards and outwards.

Three antagonistic pairs of muscles control eye movement: the lateral and medial recti muscles, the superior and inferior recti muscles, and the superior and inferior oblique muscles. These muscles are responsible for movement of the eye along three different axes: horizontal, either toward the nose (adduction) or away from the nose (abduction); vertical, either elevation or depression; and torsional, movements that bring the top of the eye toward the nose (intorsion) or away from the nose (extorsion). Horizontal movement is controlled entirely by the medial and lateral recti muscles; the medial rectus muscle is responsible for adduction, the lateral rectus muscle for abduction. Vertical movement requires the coordinated action of the superior and inferior recti muscles, as well as the oblique muscles. The relative contribution of the recti and oblique groups depends on the horizontal position of the eye. In the primary position (eyes straight ahead), both of these groups contribute to vertical movement. Elevation is due to the action of the superior rectus and inferior oblique muscles, while depression is due to the action of the inferior rectus and superior oblique muscles. When the eye is abducted, the recti muscles are the prime vertical movers. Elevation is due to the action of the superior rectus, and depression is due to the action of the inferior rectus. When the eye is adducted, the oblique muscles are the prime vertical movers. Elevation is due to the action of the inferior oblique muscle, while depression is due to the action of the superior oblique muscle. The oblique muscles are also primarily responsible for torsional movement.^{[citation needed]}

The muscles are supplied by the oculomotor nerve, with the exception of the superior oblique, which is supplied by the trochlear nerve, and the lateral rectus, supplied by the abducens nerve.

The brain exerts ultimate control over both voluntary and involuntary eye movement. Three cranial nerves carry signals from the brain to control the extraocular muscles. These are the oculomotor nerve, which controls the majority of the muscles, the trochlear nerve, which controls the superior oblique muscle, and the abducens nerve, which controls the lateral rectus muscle.

In addition to the movement of muscles, numerous areas in the brain contribute to involuntary and voluntary eye movement. These include providing the conscious perception of vision, as well as areas that facilitate tracking.