Head movement trajectory in three-dimensional space during orienting behavior toward visual targets in rhesus monkeys

Head movement trajectories in three-dimensional space were studied in two monkeys with their heads free during natural and spontaneous orienting behavior toward objects of interest displayed in a horizontal plane. The main interest of this study lies in understanding the process responsible for behavioral variability during the execution of head movements, with special reference to "units of movement." The head movements were recorded by an optoelectronic movement analyzer working with passive markers. Algorithms have been designed to reconstruct the three-dimensional trajectories of the center of gravity of the head. Simultaneously, electromyographic activity in the four pairs of suboccipital muscles was studied. A quantitative evaluation of the involvement of the head in orienting behavior toward visual targets shows that the gaze shift is always produced by eye movements in combination with head movements, even with target eccentricities of less than 10 degrees. On the basis of 80 trials performed by the two monkeys, head trajectories and recruitment patterns of the four pairs of suboccipital muscles have been analyzed. We have been able to identify four elementary kinematic units which can be described as a rightward or leftward turning associated with a contralateral or ipsilateral bending. Each of these four elementary units are underlain by a precise fixed recruitment pattern in the four pairs of suboccipital muscles. These four sets of motor strategies can be combined in order to offer a certain amount of plasticity from which the animal builds its own head trajectory.