The frontal eye fields (FEF) are a region located in the

frontal cortex The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove betw ...

, more specifically in Brodmann area 8 or BA8, of the primate

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

. In humans, it can be more accurately said to lie in a region around the intersection of the

middle frontal gyrus The middle frontal gyrus makes up about one-third of the frontal lobe of the human brain. (A gyrus is one of the prominent "bumps" or "ridges" on the cerebral cortex The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer la ...

with the

precentral gyrus The precentral gyrus is a prominent gyrus on the surface of the posterior frontal lobe of the brain. It is the site of the primary motor cortex that in humans is cytoarchitecturally defined as Brodmann area 4. Structure The precentral gyrus li ...

, consisting of a frontal and parietal portion. The FEF is responsible for saccadic eye movements for the purpose of visual field perception and awareness, as well as for voluntary eye movement. The FEF communicates with extraocular muscles indirectly via the

paramedian pontine reticular formation The paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) is a subset of neurons of the oral and caudal pontine reticular nuclei. With the abducens nucleus it makes up the horizontal gaze centre. It is situated in the pons adjacent to the abducens nu ...

. Destruction of the FEF causes deviation of the eyes to the ipsilateral side.

Function

The cortical area called the frontal eye field (FEF) plays an important role in the control of visual attention and eye movements. Electrical stimulation in the FEF elicits saccadic eye movements. The FEF have a topographic structure and represents saccade targets in

retinotopic Retinotopy () is the mapping of visual input from the retina to neurons, particularly those neurons within the Two-streams hypothesis, visual stream. For clarity, 'retinotopy' can be replaced with 'retinal mapping', and 'retinotopic' with 'retin ...

coordinates. The frontal eye field is reported to be activated during the initiation of

eye movements Eye movement includes the voluntary or involuntary movement of the eyes. Eye movements are used by a number of organisms (e.g. primates, rodents, flies, birds, fish, cats, crabs, octopus) to fixate, inspect and track visual objects of i ...

, such as voluntary

saccade In vision science, a saccade ( ; ; ) is a quick, simultaneous movement of both Eye movement (sensory), eyes between two or more phases of focal points in the same direction. In contrast, in Smooth pursuit, smooth-pursuit movements, the eyes mov ...

s and pursuit eye movements. There is also evidence that it plays a role in purely sensory processing and that it belongs to a “fast brain” system through a

superior colliculus In neuroanatomy, the superior colliculus () is a structure lying on the tectum, roof of the mammalian midbrain. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the Homology (biology), homologous structure is known as the optic tectum or optic lobe. The adjective f ...

–

medial dorsal nucleus The medial dorsal nucleus (or mediodorsal nucleus of thalamus, dorsomedial nucleus, dorsal medial nucleus, or medial nucleus group) is a large nucleus in the thalamus. It is separated from the other thalamic nuclei by the internal medullary lam ...

– FEF ascending pathway. In humans, its earliest activations in regard to visual stimuli occur at 45 ms with activations related to changes in visual stimuli within 45–60 ms (these are comparable with response times in the

primary visual cortex The visual cortex of the brain is the area of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Sensory input originating from the eyes travels through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus ...

). This fast brain pathway also provides auditory input at even shorter times starting at 24 ms and being affected by auditory characteristics at 30–60 ms. The FEF constitutes together with the supplementary eye fields (SEF), the

intraparietal sulcus The intraparietal sulcus (IPS) is located on the lateral surface of the parietal lobe, and consists of an oblique and a horizontal portion. The IPS contains a series of functionally distinct subregions that have been intensively investigated usin ...

(IPS) and the

(SC) one of the most important brain areas involved in the generation and control of eye movements, particularly in the direction contralateral to the frontal eye fields' location. In addition, FEF has an important role in the covert allocation of spatial attention through its reciprocal connectivity with visual cortex.

Clinical significance

Lesions

Unilateral irritative stimulation of a FEF, such as a frontal seizure causes conjugate gaze contralateral to the stimulation. Conversely, a unilateral destructive lesion of the FEF causes conjugate gaze towards the lesion.

References

External links

Frontal Eye Field (Scholarpedia)
{{Visual system Saccade Brodmann areas Cerebral cortex Frontal lobe

Function

Clinical significance

Lesions

See also

References

External links