Errors of memory-guided saccades in humans with lesions of the frontal eye field and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Behavioral studies in monkeys and humans suggest that systematic and variable errors of memory-guided saccades reflect distinct neuronal computations in primate spatial memory. We recorded memory-guided saccades with a 2-s delay in three patients with unilateral ischemic lesions of the frontal eye field and in three patients with unilateral ischemic lesions of the frontal eye field and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Results suggest that systematic errors of memory-guided saccades originate in the frontal eye field and variable errors in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These data are the first human lesion data to support the hypothesis that these regions provide functionally distinct contributions to spatial short-term memory.