In 8 subjects with congenital nystagmus, clearly manifested nystagmus was present while awake, with eyes open and closed, and during a variety of experimental tests, but could not be definitely discerned during REM and NREM sleep stages. However, conjugate REMs were present during the REMPs of all 8 subjects and could not be distinguished from patterns recognized in normal subjects. Brief episodes of reduced amplitude series of jerks were occasionally observed which could be considered to be “depressed” nystagmus, but such phenomena have been observed in the records of normal subjects. This replicates the findings of our previous report.
A new method of detecting eye movements (EMs) during sleep is described. The method consists of an electromechanical measurement using micro‐miniaturized silver cup electrodes. These electrodes, when placed on the eyelid, produce electro‐oculographic (EOG) recordings similar to the usual electrical method. The eyelid method offers the advantage of a relatively “clean” recording showing only EMs and movement artifact, with no intermingling of EEG and EOG. Furthermore, the method is at least one and one half times as sensitive as the usual EOG technique. In addition to these two special advantages, it also offers the features of conventional methods, convenience of DC coupling, independence from signal converters, ease of analyzing EM directionality, and durability despite the small size of the electrodes.
Fabrication of the electrodes, recording configurations, and simultaneous comparisons to both the usual EOG technique and to a strain gauge method are described.
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