Antisaccades and remembered saccades in Parkinson's disease

Antisaccades were studied in ten patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and ten age-matched normal controls. Remembered saccades and reflex saccades were assessed for comparison. In the population of patients who showed the previously reported abnormalities of remembered saccades, antisaccades were indistinguishable from those of controls in latency, gain and peak velocity. This finding implies that antisaccades are mediated through pathways which are unaffected by Parkinson's disease, and which are therefore presumably distinct from pathways mediating other voluntary saccades.