Background: Experimental and clinical studies suggest that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the superior colliculus (SC) are crucial for the cancellation of reflexive eye movements toward distracting stimuli. However, the contribution of subcortical structures remains unknown. The basal ganglia provide serial tonic inhibitory connections between the DLPFC and the SC, and could therefore be involved in preventing the triggering of unnecessary saccades. The DLPFC could also exert its inhibitory effect on the SC through direct prefronto-tectal pathways that travel in the internal capsule (IC). Since thalamic dysfunction may be responsible for reduced DLPFC activation, it may be hypothesized that the thalamus could also participate in saccadic inhibition.
Methods: The authors recorded reflexive saccade triggering (prosaccade task) and inhibition (antisaccade task) in 29 patients with a single lesion affecting the striatum, the thalamus, or the IC, and compared these results to control subjects.
Results: A normal error rate in the antisaccade task was found in patients with 1) a basal ganglia lesion, 2) a thalamic lesion, or 3) a lesion restricted to the posterior half of the posterior limb of the IC. An increased error rate in the antisaccade task was found in patients with a lesion affecting the anterior limb, the genu, or the anterior half of the posterior limb of the IC.
Conclusion: These results suggest that neither the basal ganglia nor the thalamus plays a major role in reflexive saccade suppression, but support the hypothesis of a direct DLPFC inhibitory control of saccade triggering on the SC.