[Characteristics of evoked potentials related to saccadic eye movements in man]

The exactness of saccadic eye movements to the right and to the left and changes in evoked potentials related to these eye movements were analyzed in 50 university students with marked righthandedness and normal vision, aged from 18 to 24 years (18 males, 32 females). The saccades to the left were found to be more exact than those to the right, which overshot the target in a significantly higher number of instances. In subjects with exact refixations the premotion activity in evoked potentials is of shorter duration, the spike potential has a lower amplitude and the lambda response a shorter latency in saccades to the left. The given changes are more pronounced above the right occipital region. In subjects with a higher number of correction saccades the differences between the two sides disappear in saccade related evoked potentials. The obtained results support the presumed important role of the right hemisphere or the left half of the visual field in organizing eye movements and in the integration mechanisms of eyemotion-visual perception in righthanded subjects.