scholarly journals Preparatory Activity in Premotor and Motor Cortex Reflects the Speed of the Upcoming Reach

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 3130-3146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark M. Churchland ◽  
Gopal Santhanam ◽  
Krishna V. Shenoy
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Target Distance ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Target Color ◽  
Dynamic Feature ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Preparatory Activity ◽  
Direction Distance

Neurons in premotor and motor cortex show preparatory activity during an instructed-delay task. It has been suggested that such activity primarily reflects visuospatial aspects of the movement, such as target location or reach direction and extent. We asked whether a more dynamic feature, movement speed, is also reflected. Two monkeys were trained to reach at different speeds (“slow” or “fast,” peak speed being ∼50–100% higher for the latter) depending on target color. Targets were presented in seven directions and at two distances. Of 95 neurons with tuned delay-period activity, 95, 78, and 94% showed a significant influence of direction, distance, and instructed speed, respectively. Average peak modulations with respect to direction, distance and speed were 18, 10, and 11 spikes/s. Although robust, modulations of firing rate with target direction were not necessarily invariant: for 45% of neurons, the preferred direction depended significantly on target distance and/or instructed speed. We collected an additional dataset, examining in more detail the effect of target distance (5 distances from 3 to 12 cm in 2 directions). Of 41 neurons with tuned delay-period activity, 85, 83, and 98% showed a significant impact of direction, distance, and instructed speed. Statistical interactions between the effects of distance and instructed speed were common, but it was nevertheless clear that distance “tuning” was not in general a simple consequence of speed tuning. We conclude that delay-period preparatory activity robustly reflects a nonspatial aspect of the upcoming reach. However, it is unclear whether the recorded neural responses conform to any simple reference frame, intrinsic or extrinsic.

scholarly journals Simultaneous Preparation of Multiple Potential Movements: Opposing Effects of Spatial Proximity Mediated by Premotor and Parietal Cortex

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 2084-2095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Praamstra ◽  
Dimitrios Kourtis ◽  
Kianoush Nazarpour
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Distributed Control ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
Frontoparietal Network ◽  
Neurophysiological Studies ◽  
Preparatory Activity ◽  
Posterior Parietal

Neurophysiological studies in monkey have suggested that premotor and motor cortex may prepare for multiple movements simultaneously, sustained by cooperative and competitive interactions within and between the neural populations encoding different actions. Here, we investigate whether competition between alternative movement directions, manipulated in terms of number and spatial angle, is reflected in electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of (pre)motor cortical activity in humans. EEG was recorded during performance of a center-out pointing task in which response signals were preceded by cues providing prior information in the form of arrows pointing to one or more possible movement targets. Delay-period activity in (pre)motor cortex was modulated in the predicted manner by the number of possible movement directions and by the angle separating them. Response latencies, however, were determined not only by the amplitude of movement-preparatory activity, but also by differences in the duration of stimulus evaluation against the visuospatial memory of the cue, reflected in EEG potentials originating from posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Specifically, the spatial proximity of possible movement targets was processed differently by (pre)motor and posterior parietal cortex. Spatial proximity enhanced the amplitude of (pre)motor cortex preparatory activity during the delay period but delayed evaluation of the response signal in the PPC, thus producing opposite effects on response latency. The latter finding supports distributed control of movement decisions in the frontoparietal network, revealing a feature of distributed control that is of potential significance for the understanding of distracter effects in reaching and pointing.

Saccadic Gain Modification: Visual Error Drives Motor Adaptation

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 2405-2416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Wallman ◽  
Albert F. Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Target Location ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Motor Adaptation ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Target Distance ◽  
Error Signal ◽  
Gain Adaptation ◽  
Horizontal Saccade ◽  
Corrective Saccades ◽  
Visual Error

Wallman, Josh and Albert F. Fuchs. Saccadic gain modification: visual error drives motor adaptation. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 2405–2416, 1998. The brain maintains the accuracy of saccadic eye movements by adjusting saccadic amplitude relative to the target distance (i.e., saccade gain) on the basis of the performance of recent saccades. If an experimenter surreptitiously moves the target backward during each saccade, thereby causing the eyes to land beyond their targets, saccades undergo a gradual gain reduction. The error signal driving this conventional saccadic gain adaptation could be either visual (the postsaccadic distance of the target from the fovea) or motoric (the direction and size of the corrective saccade that brings the eye onto the back-stepped target). Similarly, the adaptation itself might be a motor adjustment (change in the size of saccade for a given perceived target distance) or a visual remapping (change in the perceived target distance). We studied these possibilities in experiments both with rhesus macaques and with humans. To test whether the error signal is motoric, we used a paradigm devised by Heiner Deubel. The Deubel paradigm differed from the conventional adaptation paradigm in that the backward step that occurred during the saccade was brief, and the target then returned to its original displaced location. This ploy replaced most of the usual backward corrective saccades with forward ones. Nevertheless, saccadic gain gradually decreased over hundreds of trials. Therefore, we conclude that the direction of saccadic gain adaptation is not determined by the direction of corrective saccades. To test whether gain adaptation is a manifestation of a static visual remapping, we decreased the gain of 10° horizontal saccades by conventional adaptation and then tested the gain to targets appearing at retinal locations unused during adaptation. To make the target appear in such “virgin territory,” we had it jump first vertically and then 10° horizontally; both jumps were completed and the target spot extinguished before saccades were made sequentially to the remembered target locations. Conventional adaptation decreased the gain of the second, horizontal saccade even though the target was in a nonadapted retinal location. In contrast, the horizontal component of oblique saccades made directly to the same virgin location showed much less gain decrease, suggesting that the adaptation is specific to saccade direction rather than to target location. Thus visual remapping cannot account for the entire reduction of saccadic gain. We conclude that saccadic gain adaptation involves an error signal that is primarily visual, not motor, but that the adaptation itself is primarily motor, not visual.

scholarly journals Changes in activity of fast-spiking interneurons of the monkey striatum during reaching at a visual target

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kévin Marche ◽  
Paul Apicella
Keyword(s):  
Target Location ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Gabaergic Interneurons ◽  
Movement Preparation ◽  
Movement Initiation ◽  
Reaching Task ◽  
Advance Information ◽  
Fast Spiking ◽  
Task Conditions

Recent works highlight the importance of local inhibitory interneurons in regulating the function of the striatum. In particular, fast-spiking interneurons (FSIs), which likely correspond to a subgroup of GABAergic interneurons, have been involved in the control of movement by exerting strong inhibition on striatal output pathways. However, little is known about the exact contribution of these presumed interneurons in movement preparation, initiation, and execution. We recorded the activity of FSIs in the striatum of monkeys as they performed reaching movements to a visual target under two task conditions: one in which the movement target was presented at unsignaled left or right locations, and another in which advance information about target location was available, thus allowing monkeys to react faster. Modulations of FSI activity around the initiation of movement (53% of 55 neurons) consisted mostly of increases reaching maximal firing immediately before or, less frequently, after movement onset. Another subset of FSIs showed decreases in activity during movement execution. Rarely did movement-related changes in FSI firing depend on response direction and movement speed. Modulations of FSI activity occurring relatively early in relation to movement initiation were more influenced by the preparation for movement, compared with those occurring later. Conversely, FSI activity remained unaffected, as monkeys were preparing a movement toward a specific location and instead moved to the opposite direction when the trigger occurred. These results provide evidence that changes in activity of presumed GABAergic interneurons of the primate striatum could make distinct contributions to processes involved in movement generation. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We explored the functional contributions of striatal fast-spiking interneurons (FSIs), presumed GABAergic interneurons, to distinct steps of movement generation in monkeys performing a reaching task. The activity of individual FSIs was modulated before and during the movement, consisting mostly of increased in firing rates. Changes in activity also occurred during movement preparation. We interpret this variety of modulation types at different moments of task performance as reflecting differential FSI control over distinct phases of movement.

Preparatory activity in motor cortex reflects learning of local visuomotor skills

2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 882-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rony Paz ◽  
Thomas Boraud ◽  
Chen Natan ◽  
Hagai Bergman ◽  
Eilon Vaadia
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Preparatory Activity ◽  
Visuomotor Skills

scholarly journals Targeting in Virtual Workspaces: motor learning consolidates spatial memory for performance clusters

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradly Alicea ◽  
Corey Bohil ◽  
Frank Biocca ◽  
Charles Owen
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Movement Time ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Arm Movement ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Training Interval ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

Our objective was to focus on linkages between the process of learning and memory and the placement of objects within an array of targets in a virtual workspace. Participants were instructed to place virtual objects serially within a three-dimensional target array. One phase presented each target sequentially, and required participants to make timed ballistic arm movements. The other phase presented all nine targets simultaneously, which required ballistic arm movement towards the correct target location as recalled from the learning phase. Movement time and accuracy were assessed using repeated-measures ANOVA, a hierarchical cluster analysis, and a multiple linear regression. Collectively, this revealed numerous speed and accuracy advantages and disadvantages for various positional combinations. Upper positions universally yielded longer movement times and larger error measurements. Individual ability for mental rotation combined with task learning over a fixed training interval was found to predict accuracy for specific locations. The prediction that location influences movement speed and accuracy was supported, but with some caveats. These results may be particularly useful in the design of instructor stations and other hybrid physical-virtual workspaces.

Dynamical Organization of Directional Tuning in the Primate Premotor and Primary Motor Cortex

2003 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 1136-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoram Ben-Shaul ◽  
Eran Stark ◽  
Itay Asher ◽  
Rotem Drori ◽  
Zoltan Nadasdy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Hand Movement ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Cortical Surface ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Preparation Period ◽  
Direction Of Movement ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Movement Parameters

Although previous studies have shown that activity of neurons in the motor cortex is related to various movement parameters, including the direction of movement, the spatial pattern by which these parameters are represented is still unresolved. The current work was designed to study the pattern of representation of the preferred direction (PD) of hand movement over the cortical surface. By studying pairwise PD differences, and by applying a novel implementation of the circular variance during preparation and movement periods in the context of a center-out task, we demonstrate a nonrandom distribution of PDs over the premotor and motor cortical surface of two monkeys. Our analysis shows that, whereas PDs of units recorded by nonadjacent electrodes are not more similar than expected by chance, PDs of units recorded by adjacent electrodes are. PDs of units recorded by a single electrode display the greatest similarity. Comparison of PD distributions during preparation and movement reveals that PDs of nearby units tend to be more similar during the preparation period. However, even for pairs of units recorded by a single electrode, the mean PD difference is typically large (45° and 75° during preparation and movement, respectively), so that a strictly modular representation of hand movement direction over the cortical surface is not supported by our data.

Is Locomotor Distance Estimation Guided by Visual Imagery?

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (3-2) ◽  
pp. 1267-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Corlett ◽  
John Anton ◽  
Steve Kozub ◽  
Michel Tardif
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Distance Estimation ◽  
Target Distance ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Movement Imagery

70 subjects were tested for their visual subscale scores on the Movement Imagery Questionnaire and also for their ability to walk, without vision, to a previously viewed target location 9 m away. Imagery ability was hypothesized to correlate with accuracy of “blind” target-directed walking which the literature suggests, without empirical support, is imagery-dependent. No support for this hypothesis was found. Low, medium, and high imagers showed no differences in ability to reproduce target distance accurately or consistently by walking the estimated distance without further visual updating. The results call into question whether task performance is imagery-based or whether subjects use alternative strategies to approach the target.

Monkey hippocampal neurons related to spatial and nonspatial functions

1993 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 1516-1529 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ono ◽  
K. Nakamura ◽  
H. Nishijo ◽  
S. Eifuku
Keyword(s):  
Hippocampal Neurons ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Hippocampal Formation ◽  
Human Movement ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Directional Stimulus ◽  
Task Parameters ◽  
And Task

1. Neural activity in the monkey hippocampal formation (HF) was analyzed during a spatial moving task in which the monkey was guided by auditory and visual cues and when stimuli were presented from various directions. The monkey could control a motorized, movable device (cab) and its route to a target location by pressing the proper one of five available bars in an appropriate sequence (spatial moving task). In any of several locations in the field, neural responses were evident in relation to the presentation of various objects or human movement in some relative direction (left, anterior, right) as a directional stimulus test. 2. Of 238 hippocampal neurons analyzed, 172 (72.3%, 238-66) responded in either the spatial moving task, or to the direction from which stimulation was presented, or to the location of the monkey in the field, or to some combination of these. 3. The activity of 79 (33.2%) neurons was higher when the monkey was in some specific location in the field during the spatial moving task, regardless of the approach route or other task parameters (place related neurons). 4. Responses to the task cues in the spatial moving task were evident in 110 (46.3%) neurons (task related neurons). Of these, 77 (32.4%) neurons were not place related. The remaining 33 (13.9%) neurons were both task related and place related. These neurons responded to task cues in only that part of the field in which place related responses occurred. The neural response to the task cues disappeared when the monkey moved out of the place response region. The place related and task related neural responses disappeared when the room light was switched off. Thus information from the environment outside of the cab contributed to the place related and task related responses. 5. Stimuli presented from certain specific directions induced responses, selectively, in 41 (17.2%) of the neurons (direction related neurons). The dependence of the preferred direction was described in one of three ways--egocentric, allocentric, or place-direction specific. Nineteen egocentric neurons responded to a stimulus only when it was presented from a certain direction relative to the orientation of the monkey, regardless of the location of the monkey. Eleven allocentric neurons responded to a stimulus only when it was presented at a particular position in the room, regardless of the location or orientation of the monkey.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

scholarly journals Task-Irrelevant Features in Visual Working Memory Influence Covert Attention: Evidence from a Partial Report Task

Vision ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Foerster ◽  
Werner X. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Shape Matching ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Covert Attention ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Target Color ◽  
Color Target ◽  
Irrelevant Color ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Selecting a target based on a representation in visual working memory (VWM) affords biasing covert attention towards objects with memory-matching features. Recently, we showed that even task-irrelevant features of a VWM template bias attention. Specifically, when participants had to saccade to a cued shape, distractors sharing the cue’s search-irrelevant color captured the eyes. While a saccade always aims at one target location, multiple locations can be attended covertly. Here, we investigated whether covert attention is captured similarly as the eyes. In our partial report task, each trial started with a shape-defined search cue, followed by a fixation cross. Next, two colored shapes, each including a letter, appeared left and right from fixation, followed by masks. The letter inside that shape matching the preceding cue had to be reported. In Experiment 1, either target, distractor, both, or no object matched the cue’s irrelevant color. Target-letter reports were most frequent in target-match trials and least frequent in distractor-match trials. Irrelevant cue and target color never matched in Experiment 2. Still, participants reported the distractor more often to the target’s disadvantage, when cue and distractor color matched. Thus, irrelevant features of a VWM template can influence covert attention in an involuntarily object-based manner when searching for trial-wise varying targets.

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