Control of visually guided saccades in multiple sclerosis: Disruption to higher-order processes

Abstract

Ocular motor abnormalities are a common feature of multiple sclerosis (MS), with more salient deficits reflecting tissue damage within brainstem and cerebellar circuits. However, MS may also result in disruption to higher level or cognitive control processes governing eye movement, including attentional processes that enhance the neural processing of behaviourally relevant information. The attentional control of eye movement was investigated in 25 individuals with MS and a comparable number of neurologically healthy individuals matched for age and IQ. This entailed an evaluation of distractor-related effects on the generation of both unpredictable and predictable visually guided saccades, as..