Journal of neurophysiology
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The purpose of this study was to define the location and behavior of cerebral structures within the normal human brain that participate in the generation of voluntary saccadic eye movements. Changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during task performance were assumed to reflect like changes in regional neuronal activity induced by the task. The locations of all rCBF changes were described in stereotaxic coordinates. ⋯ A role for SMA in establishing "motor set" during both simple and complex motor tasks is suggested. An anterior-posterior somatotopy was found for SMA-eye (anterior) versus SMA-hand (posterior). Lateral occipital visual association cortex activation was present only during targeted saccadic conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)