Gaze changing behaviour in head restrained monkey.

The electromyographic activity of neck muscles and head torque were recorded in the alert, head-fixed rhesus monkeys together with the horizontal component of eye movements during pursuit movements, scanning movement and vestibular stimulation in darkness. A strong correlation between head torque and the horizontal component of eye position was demonstrated during these three different experimental situations. These conjugate head and eye movements are accompanied by a specific change in the timing of neck neuromuscular activation.