Oblique Eye Movements
The video below shows each muscle contracting. The contracting muscle is represented by a green colour and its opposite muscle which relaxes (its antagonist) is highlighted in red. This example is shown for the right eye.
The superior rectus moves the eye up and in. The inferior oblique pulls the eye up and out. The inferior rectus pulls the eye down and in. The superior oblique pulls the eye down and out. The lateral rectus is responsible for moving the eye out and the medial rectus is responsible for moving the eye in.
When performing an ocular motility test to examine binocular vision anomalies, the diagnostic positions of gaze are used. These positions are different to the fundamental motor actions of each muscle. An action of a muscle is the movement of the eye that results from contraction of that muscle. However this is not useful when trying to diagnose problems with the muscles because in most eye positions more than one muscle is working at a time.