Yann LeCun on GI and much ballyhooed "consciousness"

REM means rapid eye movement, so FEF might just be generating those movements (it’s basically the motor cortex for the eyes). That doesn’t mean it’s involved in imagination.

I don’t know of any functional reason for the rapid eye movements during that phase of sleep (not that I’ve looked), so I think it’s just those muscles aren’t paralyzed because there’s no evolutionary reason.