Comparative velocities of different types of fast eye movements in man.

The peak velocity-amplitude characteristics of voluntary saccades and the fast phases of caloric, rotational, and optokinetic (OKN) nystagmus were compared in ten human subjects in both light and, except for OKN, darkness. All these fast eye movements had similar velocities and all slowed in darkness. This study supports the presumption that the identical brainstem firing patterns found in monkeys for all fast eye movements also occur in man.