Prefrontal Cortex Neurons Reflecting Reports of a Visual Illusion

2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 1395-1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail A. Lebedev ◽  
Diana K. Douglass ◽  
Sohie Lee Moody ◽  
Steven P. Wise

When a small, focally attended visual stimulus and a larger background frame shift location at the same time, the frame's new location can affect spatial perception. For horizontal displacements on the order of 1–2°, when the frame moves more than the attended stimulus, human subjects may perceive that the attended stimulus has shifted to the right or left when it has not done so. However, that misapprehension does not disable accurate eye movements to the same stimulus. We trained a rhesus monkey to report the direction that an attended stimulus had shifted by making an eye movement to one of the two report targets. Then, using conditions that induce displacement illusions in human subjects, we tested the hypothesis that neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex (PF) would reflect the displacement directions reported by the monkey, even when they conflicted with the actual displacement, if any, of the attended stimulus. We also predicted that these cells would have directional selectivity for movements used to make those reports, but not for similar eye movements made to fixate the attended stimulus. A population of PF neurons showed the predicted properties, which could not be accounted for on the basis of either eye-movement or frame-shift parameters. This activity, termed report-related, began approximately 150 ms before the onset of the reporting saccade. Another population of PF neurons showed greater directional selectivity for saccadic eye movements made to fixate the attended stimulus than for similar saccades made to report its displacement. In view of the evidence that PF functions to integrate inputs and actions occurring at different times and places, the present findings support the idea that such integration involves movements to acquire response targets, directly, as well as actions guided by less direct response rules, such as perceptual reports.

1993 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Pashler ◽  
Mark Carrier ◽  
James Hoffman

Four dual-task experiments required a speeded manual choice response to a tone in a close temporal proximity to a saccadic eye movement task. In Experiment 1, subjects made a saccade towards a single transient; in Experiment 2, a red and a green colour patch were presented to left and right, and the saccade was to which ever patch was the pre-specified target colour. There was some slowing of the eye movement, but neither task combination showed typical dual-task interference (the “psychological refractory effect”). However, more interference was observed when the direction of the saccade depended on whether a central colour patch was red or green, or when the saccade was directed towards the numerically higher of two large digits presented to the left and the right. Experiment 5 examined a vocal second task, for comparison. The findings might reflect the fact that eye movements can be directed by two separate brain systems–-the superior colliculus and the frontal eye fields; commands from the latter but not the former may be delayed by simultaneous unrelated sensorimotor tasks.


1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 2895-2902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus G. Rottach ◽  
Vallabh E. Das ◽  
Walter Wohlgemuth ◽  
Ari Z. Zivotofsky ◽  
R. John Leigh

Rottach, Klaus G., Vallabh E. Das, Walter Wohlgemuth, Ari Z. Zivotofsky, and R. John Leigh. Properties of horizontal saccades accompanied by blinks. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 2895–2902, 1998. Using the magnetic search coil technique to record eye and lid movements, we investigated the effect of voluntary blinks on horizontal saccades in five normal human subjects. The main goal of the study was to determine whether changes in the dynamics of saccades with blinks could be accounted for by a superposition of the eye movements induced by blinks as subjects fixated a stationary target and saccadic movements made without a blink. First, subjects made voluntary blinks as they fixed on stationary targets located straight ahead or 20° to the right or left. They then made saccades between two continuously visible targets 20 or 40° apart, while either attempting not to blink, or voluntarily blinking, with each saccade. During fixation of a target located straight ahead, blinks induced brief downward and nasalward deflections of eye position. When subjects looked at targets located at right or left 20°, similar initial movements were made by four of the subjects, but the amplitude of the adducted eye was reduced by 65% and was followed by a larger temporalward movement. Blinks caused substantial changes in the dynamic properties of saccades. For 20° saccades made with blinks, peak velocity and peak acceleration were decreased by ∼20% in all subjects compared with saccades made without blinks. Blinks caused the duration of 20° saccades to increase, on average, by 36%. On the other hand, blinks had only small effects on the gain of saccades. Blinks had little influence on the relative velocities of centrifugal versus centripetal saccades, and abducting versus adducting saccades. Three of five subjects showed a significantly increased incidence of dynamic overshoot in saccades accompanied by blinks, especially for 20° movements. Taken with other evidence, this finding suggests that saccadic omnipause neurons are inhibited by blinks, which have longer duration than the saccades that company them. In conclusion, the changes in dynamic properties of saccades brought about by blinks cannot be accounted for simply by a summation of gaze perturbations produced by blinks during fixation and saccadic eye movements made without blinks. Our findings, especially the appearance of dynamic overshoots, suggest that blinks affect the central programming of saccades. These effects of blinks need to be taken into account during studies of the dynamic properties of saccades.


1990 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Goldberg ◽  
C. J. Bruce

1. We studied the activity of single neurons in the monkey frontal eye fields during oculomotor tasks designed to assess the activity of these neurons when there was a dissonance between the spatial location of a target and its position on the retina. 2. Neurons with presaccadic activity were first studied to determine their receptive or movement fields and to classify them as visual, visuomovement, or movement cells with the use of the criteria described previously (Bruce and Goldberg 1985). The neurons were then studied by the use of double-step tasks that dissociated the retinal coordinates of visual targets from the dimensions of saccadic eye movements necessary to acquire those targets. These tasks required that the monkeys make two successive saccades to follow two sequentially flashed targets. Because the second target disappeared before the first saccade occurred, the dimensions of the second saccade could not be based solely on the retinal coordinates of the target but also depended on the dimensions of the first saccade. We used two versions of the double-step task. In one version neither target appeared in the cell's receptive or movement field, but the second eye movement was the optimum amplitude and direction for the cell (right-EM/wrong-RF task). In the other the second stimulus appeared in the cell's receptive field, but neither eye movement was appropriate for the cell (wrong-EM/right-RF task). 3. Most frontal-eye-field cells discharged in the right-EM/wrong-RF version of the double-step task. Their discharge began after the first saccade and continued until the second saccade was made. They usually discharged even on occasional trials in which the monkey failed to make the second saccade. They discharged much less, or not at all, in the wrong-EM/right-RF version of the double-step paradigm. Thus most presaccadic cells in the frontal eye fields were tuned to the dimensions of saccadic eye movements rather than to the coordinates of retinal stimulation. 4. Eleven movement cells (including 1 which also had independent postsaccadic activity for saccades opposite its presaccadic movement field) were studied, and all had significant activity in the right-EM/wrong-RF task. 5. Almost all (28/32) visuomovement cells, including 12 with independent postsaccadic activity, discharged in the right-EM/wrong-RF task. None of the four that failed had independent postsaccadic activity. 6. The majority (26/40) of visual cells were responsive in the right-EM/wrong-RF task.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Chong-Bin Tsai ◽  
Wei-Yu Hung ◽  
Wei-Yen Hsu

Optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) is an involuntary eye movement induced by motion of a large proportion of the visual field. It consists of a “slow phase (SP)” with eye movements in the same direction as the movement of the pattern and a “fast phase (FP)” with saccadic eye movements in the opposite direction. Study of OKN can reveal valuable information in ophthalmology, neurology and psychology. However, the current commercially available high-resolution and research-grade eye tracker is usually expensive. Methods & Results: We developed a novel fast and effective system combined with a low-cost eye tracking device to accurately quantitatively measure OKN eye movement. Conclusions: The experimental results indicate that the proposed method achieves fast and promising results in comparisons with several traditional approaches.


2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 787-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Koval ◽  
R. Matthew Hutchison ◽  
Stephen G. Lomber ◽  
Stefan Everling

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) have both been implicated in the cognitive control of saccadic eye movements by single neuron recording studies in nonhuman primates and functional imaging studies in humans, but their relative roles remain unclear. Here, we reversibly deactivated either dlPFC or ACC subregions in macaque monkeys while the animals performed randomly interleaved pro- and antisaccades. In addition, we explored the whole-brain functional connectivity of these two regions by applying a seed-based resting-state functional MRI analysis in a separate cohort of monkeys. We found that unilateral dlPFC deactivation had stronger behavioral effects on saccades than unilateral ACC deactivation, and that the dlPFC displayed stronger functional connectivity with frontoparietal areas than the ACC. We suggest that the dlPFC plays a more prominent role in the preparation of pro- and antisaccades than the ACC.


2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 2541-2549 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Economides ◽  
Daniel L. Adams ◽  
Jonathan C. Horton

The superior colliculus is a major brain stem structure for the production of saccadic eye movements. Electrical stimulation at any given point in the motor map generates saccades of defined amplitude and direction. It is unknown how this saccade map is affected by strabismus. Three macaques were raised with exotropia, an outwards ocular deviation, by detaching the medial rectus tendon in each eye at age 1 mo. The animals were able to make saccades to targets with either eye and appeared to alternate fixation freely. To probe the organization of the superior colliculus, microstimulation was applied at multiple sites, with the animals either free-viewing or fixating a target. On average, microstimulation drove nearly conjugate saccades, similar in both amplitude and direction but separated by the ocular deviation. Two monkeys showed a pattern deviation, characterized by a systematic change in the relative position of the two eyes with certain changes in gaze angle. These animals' saccades were slightly different for the right eye and left eye in their amplitude or direction. The differences were consistent with the animals' underlying pattern deviation, measured during static fixation and smooth pursuit. The tectal map for saccade generation appears to be normal in strabismus, but saccades may be affected by changes in the strabismic deviation that occur with different gaze angles.


2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 772-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
C-S Lee ◽  
J-H Lee ◽  
H Pak ◽  
SW Park ◽  
D-W Song

This paper evaluates the detectability of the phantom array and stroboscopic effects during light source motion, eye movement and their combination, using time modulated light-emitting diode light sources. It is well known that the phantom array can be observed when time-modulated light sources are observed during saccadic eye movements. We investigated whether light source motion can cause similar effects when the subject has fixed eyes. In addition, we estimated the detectability threshold frequency for the combination of stroboscopic effect and the phantom array, which is named the stroboscopic-phantom array effect, during two eye movements in opposite directions under one directional rotating light source with variable speed. Our results indicate that one of the most important factors for the stroboscopic-phantom array effect is eye movement speed relative to the speed of the light source. Therefore, time-modulated moving light sources induce a stroboscopic effect in subjects with fixed eyes that is similar to the stroboscopic-phantom array effect observed during saccadic eye movement. Our findings are likely to be useful for predicting the stroboscopic effect and the stroboscopic-phantom array effect during the fast motion of time-modulated LED light sources, like multi-functional rear lamps, in automotive lighting applications.


Perception ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Biscaldi ◽  
Burkhart Fischer ◽  
Franz Aiple

Twenty-four children made saccades in five noncognitive tasks. Two standard tasks required saccades to a single target presented randomly 4 deg to the right or left of a fixation point. Three other tasks required sequential saccades from the left to the right. 75 parameters of the eye-movement data were collected for each child. On the basis of their reading, writing, and other cognitive performances, twelve children were considered dyslexic and were divided into two groups (D1 and D2). Group statistical comparisons revealed significant differences between control and dyslexic subjects. In general, in the standard tasks the dyslexic subjects had poorer fixation quality, failed more often to hit the target at once, had smaller primary saccades, and had shorter reaction times to the left as compared with the control group. The control group and group D1 dyslexics showed an asymmetrical distribution of reaction times, but in opposite directions. Group D2 dyslexics made more anticipatory and express saccades, they undershot the target more often in comparison with the control group, and almost never overshot it. In the sequential tasks group D1 subjects made fewer and larger saccades in a shorter time and group D2 subjects had shorter fixation durations than the subjects of the control group.


1983 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 728-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Megaw ◽  
Tayyar Sen

It has been suggested by Bahill and Stark (1975) that visual fatigue can be identified by changes in some of the saccadic eye movement parameters. These include increases in the frequency of occurrence of glissades and overlapping saccades and reductions in the peak velocity and duration of saccades. In their study, fatigue was induced by the same step tracking task that was used to evaluate the changes in saccadic parameters. However, there is evidence that subjects experience extreme feelings of fatigue while performing such a task and that somehow the task is unnatural. The present study was designed to assess whether there are any differences in the various saccadic parameters obtained while subjects perform a step tracking task and a cognitive task involving the comparison of number strings. Both tasks were presented on a VDU screen. The second objective was to establish whether there are any changes in the parameters for either task as a result of prolonged performance. The results showed no major differences in the saccadic eye movements between the two tasks and no consistent changes resulting from prolonged performance.


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