Learning in the oculomotor system: from molecules to behavior

A combination of system-level and cellular-molecular approaches is moving s tudies of oculomotor learning rapidly toward the goal of linking synaptic p lasticity at specific sites in oculomotor circuits with changes in the sign al-processing functions of those circuits, and, ultimately, with changes in eye movement behavior. Recent studies of saccadic adaptation illustrate ho w careful behavioral analysis can provide constraints on the neural loci of plasticity. Studies of vestibule-ocular adaptation are beginning to examin e the molecular pathways contributing to this form of cerebellum-dependent learning.