oculomotor apraxia

oculomotor apraxia

a condition in which willed (i.e., purposeful) eye movements are impaired. Affected individuals appear to have lost the ability to move their eyes. Smooth-pursuit eye movements and saccades are impaired or even absent when elicited by a target stimulus and when the individual is asked to follow a target. A particular form of oculomotor apraxia is lid apraxia, the inability to close the eyes. Also called ocular apraxia. See also congenital oculomotor apraxia.