The role of the flocculus of the monkey in saccadic eye movements.

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Abstract
Purkinje cell discharges were recorded from the flocculus of monkeys either spontaneously making saccadic eye movements (saccades) or trained to fixate a small visual target presented on a tangent screen. In the trained monkeys, sacchades of known magnitude and direction were induced by changing the position of the fixation target. Among 513 Purkinje cells, 343 units (66.9%) paused during saccades in all directions (286 units) or in particular directions (57 units). In most units, there were intimate temporal relationships between the beginnings of pauses and saccades and between the ends of pauses and saccades. The pause in activity preceded saccades by an average of 9.6 ms, with a maximum lead time of 30 ms. In a fraction of the units (7.6%), the pause started after the onset of saccades. There were 104 units (20.3%) which showed bursts during saccades in all directions (82 units) or in particular directions (22 units). In 66 units (12.8%), a burst was associated with saccades in 1 direction and a pause in the opposite direction. The burst in the burst and burst-pause units preceded saccades by an average of 3.8 ms. There was no significant difference in the lead times between these 2 groups of units. There was a linear relationship between the duration of the pause in Purkinje cell activity and that of the accompanying saccade. A linear relationship was seen between the pause duration and the magnitude of saccade.