Effects of eye position on electrically evoked saccades: a theoretical note

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
James T. McIlwain
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Target Position ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Saccadic System ◽  
Early Processing ◽  
The Difference

AbstractThe trajectories of saccadic eye movements evoked electrically from many brain structures are dependent to some degree on the initial position of the eye. Under certain conditions, likely to occur in stimulation experiments, local feedback models of the saccadic system can yield eye movements which behave in this way. The models in question assume that an early processing stage adds an internal representation of eye position to retinal error to yield a signal representing target position with respect to the head. The saccadic system is driven by the difference between this signal and one representing the current position of the eye. Albano & Wurtz (1982) pointed out that lesions perturbing the computation of eye position with respect to the head can result in initial position dependence of visually evoked saccades. It is shown here that position-dependent saccades will also result if electrical stimulation evokes a signal equivalent to retinal error but fails to effect a complete addition of eye position to this signal. Also, when multiple or staircase saccades are produced, as during long stimulus trains, they will have identical directions but decrease progressively in amplitude by a factor related to the fraction of added eye position.

scholarly journals Neuronal Responses to Moving Targets in Monkey Frontal Eye Fields

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 1544-1556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos R. Cassanello ◽  
Abhay T. Nihalani ◽  
Vincent P. Ferrera
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Neuronal Response ◽  
Target Position ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Target Velocity ◽  
Frontal Eye Fields ◽  
Moving Targets ◽  
Velocity Information

Due to delays in visuomotor processing, eye movements directed toward moving targets must integrate both target position and velocity to be accurate. It is unknown where and how target velocity information is incorporated into the planning of rapid (saccadic) eye movements. We recorded the activity of neurons in frontal eye fields (FEFs) while monkeys made saccades to stationary and moving targets. A substantial fraction of FEF neurons was found to encode not only the initial position of a moving target, but the metrics (amplitude and direction) of the saccade needed to intercept the target. Many neurons also encoded target velocity in a nearly linear manner. The quasi-linear dependence of firing rate on target velocity means that the neuronal response can be directly read out to compute the future position of a target moving with constant velocity. This is demonstrated using a quantitative model in which saccade amplitude is encoded in the population response of neurons tuned to retinal target position and modulated by target velocity.

Amplitude and Direction of Saccadic Eye Movements Depend on the Synchronicity of Collicular Population Activity

2004 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 424-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brecht ◽  
Wolf Singer ◽  
Andreas K. Engel
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Temporal Relations ◽  
Neuronal Responses ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Neuronal Processing ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Cat Superior Colliculus

Synchronization of neuronal discharges has been observed in numerous brain structures, but opinions diverge regarding its significance in neuronal processing. Here we investigate whether the motion vectors of saccadic eye movements evoked by electrical multisite stimulation of the cat superior colliculus (SC) are influenced by varying the degree of synchrony between the stimulus trains. With synchronous activation of SC sites, the vectors of the resulting saccades correspond approximately to the averages of the vectors of saccades evoked from each site alone. In contrast, when the pulses of trains applied to the different sites are temporally offset by as little as 5–10 ms, the vectors of the resulting saccades come close to the sum of the individual vectors. Thus saccade vectors depend not only on the site and amplitude of collicular activation but also on the precise temporal relations among the respective spike trains. These data indicate that networks within or downstream from the SC discriminate with high temporal resolution between synchronous and asynchronous population responses. This supports the hypothesis that information is encoded not only in the rate of neuronal responses but also in the precise temporal relations between discharges.

Visual Remapping by Vector Subtraction: Analysis of Multiplicative Gain Field Models

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 2353-2386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos R. Cassanello ◽  
Vincent P. Ferrera
Keyword(s):  
Target Location ◽  
Target Position ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Spatial Modulation ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Retinal Position ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
The Brain

Saccadic eye movements remain spatially accurate even when the target becomes invisible and the initial eye position is perturbed. The brain accomplishes this in part by remapping the remembered target location in retinal coordinates. The computation that underlies this visual remapping is approximated by vector subtraction: the original saccade vector is updated by subtracting the vector corresponding to the intervening eye movement. The neural mechanism by which vector subtraction is implemented is not fully understood. Here, we investigate vector subtraction within a framework in which eye position and retinal target position signals interact multiplicatively (gain field). When the eyes move, they induce a spatial modulation of the firing rates across a retinotopic map of neurons. The updated saccade metric can be read from the shift of the peak of the population activity across the map. This model uses a quasi-linear (half-rectified) dependence on the eye position and requires the slope of the eye position input to be negatively proportional to the preferred retinal position of each neuron. We derive analytically this constraint and study its range of validity. We discuss how this mechanism relates to experimental results reported in the frontal eye fields of macaque monkeys.

Use of interrupted saccade paradigm to study spatial and temporal dynamics of saccadic burst cells in superior colliculus in monkey

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 2754-2770 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Keller ◽  
J. A. Edelman
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Visual Response ◽  
Intermediate Layers ◽  
Saccade Onset ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Motor Error

1. We recorded the spatial and temporal dynamics of saccade-related burst neurons (SRBNs) found in the intermediate layers of the superior colliculus (SC) in the alert, behaving monkey. These burst cells are normally the first neurons recorded during radially directed microelectrode penetrations of the SC after the electrode has left the more dorsally situated visual layers. They have spatially delimited movement fields whose centers describe the well-studied motor map of the SC. They have a rather sharp, saccade-locked burst of activity that peaks just before saccade onset and then declines steeply during the saccade. Many of these cells, when recorded during saccade trials, also have an early, transient visual response and an irregular prelude of presaccadic activity. 2. Because saccadic eye movements normally have very stereotyped durations and velocity trajectories that vary systematically with saccade size, it has been difficult in the past to establish quantitatively whether the activity of SRBNs temporally codes dynamic saccadic control signals, e.g., dynamic motor error or eye velocity, where dynamic motor error is defined as a signal proportional to the instantaneous difference between desired final eye position and the actual eye position during a saccade. It has also not been unequivocally established whether SRBNs participate in an organized spatial shift of ensemble activity in the intermediate layers of the SC during saccadic eye movements. 3. To address these issues, we studied the activity of SRBNs using an interrupted saccade paradigm. Saccades were interrupted with pulsatile electrical stimulation through a microelectrode implanted in the omnipauser region of the brain stem while recordings were made simultaneously from single SRBNs in the SC. 4. Shortly after the beginning of the stimulation (which was electronically triggered at saccade onset), the eyes decelerated rapidly and stopped completely. When the high-frequency (typically 300-400 pulses per second) stimulation was terminated (average duration 12 ms), the eye movement was reinitiated and a resumed saccade was made accurately to the location of the target. 5. When we recorded from SRBNs in the more caudal colliculus, which were active for large saccades, cell discharge was powerfully and rapidly suppressed by the stimulation (average latency = 3.8 ms). Activity in the same cells started again just before the onset of the resumed saccade and continued during this saccade even though it has a much smaller amplitude than would normally be associated with significant discharge for caudal SC cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Eye position effects in saccadic adaptation

2011 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 2536-2545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Havermann ◽  
Eckart Zimmermann ◽  
Markus Lappe
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Saccade Amplitude ◽  
Position Effects ◽  
Position Information ◽  
Saccadic Adaptation ◽  
Visual Error

Saccades are used by the visual system to explore visual space with the high accuracy of the fovea. The visual error after the saccade is used to adapt the control of subsequent eye movements of the same amplitude and direction in order to keep saccades accurate. Saccadic adaptation is thus specific to saccade amplitude and direction. In the present study we show that saccadic adaptation is also specific to the initial position of the eye in the orbit. This is useful, because saccades are normally accompanied by head movements and the control of combined head and eye movements depends on eye position. Many parts of the saccadic system contain eye position information. Using the intrasaccadic target step paradigm, we adaptively reduced the amplitude of reactive saccades to a suddenly appearing target at a selective position of the eyes in the orbitae and tested the resulting amplitude changes for the same saccade vector at other starting positions. For central adaptation positions the saccade amplitude reduction transferred completely to eccentric starting positions. However, for adaptation at eccentric starting positions, there was a reduced transfer to saccades from central starting positions or from eccentric starting positions in the opposite hemifield. Thus eye position information modifies the transfer of saccadic amplitude changes in the adaptation of reactive saccades. A gain field mechanism may explain the eye position dependence found.

scholarly journals The saccadic system does not compensate for the immaturity of the smooth pursuit system during visual tracking in children

2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Ego ◽  
Jean-Jacques Orban de Xivry ◽  
Marie-Cécile Nassogne ◽  
Demet Yüksel ◽  
Philippe Lefèvre
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Lower Sensitivity ◽  
Early Maturity ◽  
Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Saccadic System ◽  
Pursuit System ◽  
Average Position

Motor skills improve with age from childhood into adulthood, and this improvement is reflected in the performance of smooth pursuit eye movements. In contrast, the saccadic system becomes mature earlier than the smooth pursuit system. Therefore, the present study investigates whether the early mature saccadic system compensates for the lower pursuit performance during childhood. To answer this question, horizontal eye movements were recorded in 58 children (ages 5–16 yr) and 16 adults (ages 23–36 yr) in a task that required the combination of smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements. Smooth pursuit performance improved with age. However, children had larger average position error during target tracking compared with adults, but they did not execute more saccades to compensate for their low pursuit performance despite the early maturity of their saccadic system. This absence of error correction suggests that children have a lower sensitivity to visual errors compared with adults. This reduced sensitivity might stem from poor internal models and longer processing time in young children.

Properties of signals that determine the amplitude and direction of saccadic eye movements in monkeys

1986 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 196-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. McKenzie ◽  
S. G. Lisberger
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Polar Coordinates ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Spatial Error ◽  
Internal Feedback ◽  
The Neural Network ◽  
Smooth Change ◽  
Highly Correlated

Monkeys were trained to make saccades to briefly flashed targets. We presented the flash during smooth pursuit of another target, so that there was a smooth change in eye position after the flash. We could then determine whether the flash-evoked saccades compensated for the intervening smooth eye movements to point the eyes at the position of the flash in space. We defined the "retinal error" as the vector from the position of the eye at the time of the flash to the position of the target. We defined "spatial error" as the vector from the position of the eye at the time of the saccade to the position of the flashed target in space. The direction of the saccade (in polar coordinates) was more highly correlated with the direction of the retinal error than with the direction of the spatial error. Saccade amplitude was also better correlated with the amplitude of the retinal error. We obtained the same results whether the flash was presented during pursuit with the head fixed or during pursuit with combined eye-head movements. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the direction of the saccade was determined only by the retinal error in two of the three monkeys. In the third monkey saccade direction was determined primarily by retinal error but had a consistent bias toward spatial error. The bias can be attributed to this monkey's earlier practice in which the flashed target was reilluminated so he could ultimately make a saccade to the correct position in space. These data suggest that the saccade generator does not normally use nonvisual feedback about smooth changes in eye or gaze position. In two monkeys we also provided sequential target flashes during pursuit with the second flash timed so that it occurred just before the first saccade. As above, the first saccade was appropriate for the retinal error provided by the first flash. The second saccade compensated for the first and pointed the eyes at the position of the second target in space. We conclude, as others have before (12, 21), that the saccade generator receives feedback about its own output, saccades. Our results require revision of existing models of the neural network that generates saccades. We suggest two models that retain the use of internal feedback suggested by others. We favor a model that accounts for our data by assuming that internal feedback originates directly from the output of the saccade generator and reports only saccadic changes in eye position.

scholarly journals Mice Make Targeted Saccades

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian H. Zahler ◽  
David E. Taylor ◽  
Julia M. Adams ◽  
Evan H. Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Innate Behavior ◽  
High Acuity ◽  
Early Origin ◽  
Innate Ability

AbstractHumans read text, recognize faces, and process emotions using targeted saccadic eye movements. In the textbook model, this innate ability to make targeted saccades evolved in species with foveae or similar high-acuity retinal specializations that enable scrutiny of salient stimuli. According to the model, saccades made by species without retinal specializations (such as mice) are never targeted and serve only to reset the eyes after gaze-stabilizing movements. Here we show that mice innately make touch-evoked targeted saccades. Optogenetic manipulations revealed the neural circuit mechanisms underlying targeted saccades are conserved. Saccade probability is a U-shaped function of current eye position relative to the target, mirroring the simulated relationship between an object’s location within the visual field and the probability its next movement carries it out of view. Thus, a cardinal sophistication of our visual system may have had an unexpectedly early origin as an innate behavior that keeps stimuli in view.

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