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To the Editor:
—In a recent paper (An Experimental Study of Optokinetic Responses, A. M. A. Arch. Neurol. & Psychiat. 47:43-54 [Jan.] 1952), Hendersen and Crosby report observations on the monkey that are at variance with observations which we have made on human beings. They report that the monkey may inhibit the optokinetic response so long as he is alert and his frontal lobes are intact. Lag of attention or progressive stupor appears to enhance the optokinetic response. With human beings the reverse appears to be the case. The normally alert person is unable to arrest the optokinetic response, so long as it is being properly tested, and lag of attention decreases it.Stimulated by the discrepancy between their findings and ours, we set out to make comparative observations on monkeys and human subjects. Our procedure differed from theirs in that a large drum, measuring approximately 22 in. (55.9 cm.)