Library · Physiology
How the eyes move together
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The eyes do not move in just one way. There are four basic types of eye movement: saccades, smooth pursuit, vergence movements and vestibulo-ocular movements.
They are carried out by a set of small muscles attached to each eyeball: four rectus muscles and two obliques. The brain drives them through three cranial nerves, the ones that come straight off the brain: the third, the fourth and the sixth.
The differences show up as you look around. Saccades abruptly shift the point of fixation, the exact spot where the gaze is set. Smooth pursuit is for following something that is moving. And vergence aligns each eye with objects that are at different distances.
The fourth type explains why the world does not jolt when you walk. Vestibulo-ocular movements stabilize the eyes and compensate for head movement. It is a stabilized camera: the hand moves and the image stays still.
In brief
There are four basic types of eye movement: saccades, smooth pursuit, vergence and vestibulo-ocular movements.
Each eye carries them out with four rectus muscles and two obliques, driven by cranial nerves III, IV and VI.
Saccades shift the point of fixation abruptly, smooth pursuit follows a moving target, and vergence aligns each eye with objects at different distances.
Vestibulo-ocular movements stabilize the eyes and compensate for head movement.
A stabilized camera: the hand moves and the image stays still.
Sources (2)
- Neuroscience, 2nd edition, Sinauer Associates, NCBI BookshelfTypes of Eye Movements and Their Functions, NeurosciencePublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Head and Neck, Eye Extraocular Muscles, StatPearlsPublished
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