Physiology, Accommodation

The accommodation reflex is the visual response for focusing on near objects. It also has the name of the accommodation-convergence reflex or the near reflex. It is synkinesis, which consists of the convergence of both eyes, contraction of the ciliary muscle resulting in a change in lens shape (accommodation), and pupillary constriction. The coordination of these 3 events changes the eye's power, allowing the eye's point of focus to change from a distant object to a nearby object or vice versa. Like the pupillary light reflex, the afferent limb of the reflex is through the optic nerve, and the efferent limb involves the Edinger Westphal nucleus and the oculomotor nerve. The supranuclear control over the near reflex differs from the light reflex. It includes cortical areas surrounding the visual cortex and frontal eye fields. The midbrain center for the near reflex is more ventral than the light reflex.