Functional role of the cerebral nystagmogenic area in the cat.

A nystagmogenic area has been identified in the occipital lobe of the cerebral cortex of the cat. The electrical stimulation of this area induces a horizontal eye nystagmus directed toward the opposite side. The chronic lesion of both cerebral nystagmogenic areas provokes dramatic modifications of the eye nystagmus elicited by optokinetic stimulations. In particular, it has been observed that following the ablation of the two nystagmogenic areas the optokinetic eye nystagmus is abolished being replaced by pendular oscillations of the eyes with intercalated eye jerks in the same direction of the normal optokinetic eye nystagmus.