Updating Visual Memory Across Eye Movements for Ocular and Arm Motor Control

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (5) ◽  
pp. 2507-2514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan A. Thompson ◽  
Denise Y. P. Henriques
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
Movement Amplitude ◽  
Background Motion

Remembered object locations are stored in an eye-fixed reference frame, so that every time the eyes move, spatial representations must be updated for the arm-motor system to reflect the target's new relative position. To date, studies have not investigated how the brain updates these spatial representations during other types of eye movements, such as smooth-pursuit. Further, it is unclear what information is used in spatial updating. To address these questions we investigated whether remembered locations of pointing targets are updated following smooth-pursuit eye movements, as they are following saccades, and also investigated the role of visual information in estimating eye-movement amplitude for updating spatial memory. Misestimates of eye-movement amplitude were induced when participants visually tracked stimuli presented with a background that moved in either the same or opposite direction of the eye before pointing or looking back to the remembered target location. We found that gaze-dependent pointing errors were similar following saccades and smooth-pursuit and that incongruent background motion did result in a misestimate of eye-movement amplitude. However, the background motion had no effect on spatial updating for pointing, but did when subjects made a return saccade, suggesting that the oculomotor and arm-motor systems may rely on different sources of information for spatial updating.

scholarly journals Multiple spatial representations interact to increase reach accuracy when coordinating a saccade with a reach

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 2328-2343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuriria Vazquez ◽  
Laura Federici ◽  
Bijan Pesaran
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Coupling Mechanism ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
Spatial Coupling ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Temporal Coupling ◽  
Reach Movements

Reaching is an essential behavior that allows primates to interact with the environment. Precise reaching to visual targets depends on our ability to localize and foveate the target. Despite this, how the saccade system contributes to improvements in reach accuracy remains poorly understood. To assess spatial contributions of eye movements to reach accuracy, we performed a series of behavioral psychophysics experiments in nonhuman primates ( Macaca mulatta). We found that a coordinated saccade with a reach to a remembered target location increases reach accuracy without target foveation. The improvement in reach accuracy was similar to that obtained when the subject had visual information about the location of the current target in the visual periphery and executed the reach while maintaining central fixation. Moreover, we found that the increase in reach accuracy elicited by a coordinated movement involved a spatial coupling mechanism between the saccade and reach movements. We observed significant correlations between the saccade and reach errors for coordinated movements. In contrast, when the eye and arm movements were made to targets in different spatial locations, the magnitude of the error and the degree of correlation between the saccade and reach direction were determined by the spatial location of the eye and the hand targets. Hence, we propose that coordinated movements improve reach accuracy without target foveation due to spatial coupling between the reach and saccade systems. Spatial coupling could arise from a neural mechanism for coordinated visual behavior that involves interacting spatial representations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY How visual spatial representations guiding reach movements involve coordinated saccadic eye movements is unknown. Temporal coupling between the reach and saccade system during coordinated movements improves reach performance. However, the role of spatial coupling is unclear. Using behavioral psychophysics, we found that spatial coupling increases reach accuracy in addition to temporal coupling and visual acuity. These results suggest that a spatial mechanism to couple the reach and saccade systems increases the accuracy of coordinated movements.

scholarly journals Role of Primate Cerebellar Hemisphere in Voluntary Eye Movement Control Revealed by Lesion Effects

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 934-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masafumi Ohki ◽  
Hiromasa Kitazawa ◽  
Takahito Hiramatsu ◽  
Kimitake Kaga ◽  
Taiko Kitamura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Cerebellar Hemisphere ◽  
Target Velocity ◽  
Eye Movement Control ◽  
Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Catch Up

The anatomical connection between the frontal eye field and the cerebellar hemispheric lobule VII (H-VII) suggests a potential role of the hemisphere in voluntary eye movement control. To reveal the involvement of the hemisphere in smooth pursuit and saccade control, we made a unilateral lesion around H-VII and examined its effects in three Macaca fuscata that were trained to pursue visually a small target. To the step (3°)-ramp (5–20°/s) target motion, the monkeys usually showed an initial pursuit eye movement at a latency of 80–140 ms and a small catch-up saccade at 140–220 ms that was followed by a postsaccadic pursuit eye movement that roughly matched the ramp target velocity. After unilateral cerebellar hemispheric lesioning, the initial pursuit eye movements were impaired, and the velocities of the postsaccadic pursuit eye movements decreased. The onsets of 5° visually guided saccades to the stationary target were delayed, and their amplitudes showed a tendency of increased trial-to-trial variability but never became hypo- or hypermetric. Similar tendencies were observed in the onsets and amplitudes of catch-up saccades. The adaptation of open-loop smooth pursuit velocity, tested by a step increase in target velocity for a brief period, was impaired. These lesion effects were recognized in all directions, particularly in the ipsiversive direction. A recovery was observed at 4 wk postlesion for some of these lesion effects. These results suggest that the cerebellar hemispheric region around lobule VII is involved in the control of smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements.

Quantitative Analysis of Abducens Neuron Discharge Dynamics During Saccadic and Slow Eye Movements

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 2612-2632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre A. Sylvestre ◽  
Kathleen E. Cullen
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Firing Rate ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Slow Phase ◽  
Vestibular Nystagmus ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
Rapid Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Velocity

The mechanics of the eyeball and its surrounding tissues, which together form the oculomotor plant, have been shown to be the same for smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements. Hence it was postulated that similar signals would be carried by motoneurons during slow and rapid eye movements. In the present study, we directly addressed this proposal by determining which eye movement–based models best describe the discharge dynamics of primate abducens neurons during a variety of eye movement behaviors. We first characterized abducens neuron spike trains, as has been classically done, during fixation and sinusoidal smooth pursuit. We then systematically analyzed the discharge dynamics of abducens neurons during and following saccades, during step-ramp pursuit and during high velocity slow-phase vestibular nystagmus. We found that the commonly utilized first-order description of abducens neuron firing rates (FR = b + kE + rE˙, where FR is firing rate, E and E˙ are eye position and velocity, respectively, and b, k, and r are constants) provided an adequate model of neuronal activity during saccades, smooth pursuit, and slow phase vestibular nystagmus. However, the use of a second-order model, which included an exponentially decaying term or “slide” (FR = b + kE + rE˙ + uË − c[Formula: see text]), notably improved our ability to describe neuronal activity when the eye was moving and also enabled us to model abducens neuron discharges during the postsaccadic interval. We also found that, for a given model, a single set of parameters could not be used to describe neuronal firing rates during both slow and rapid eye movements. Specifically, the eye velocity and position coefficients ( r and k in the above models, respectively) consistently decreased as a function of the mean (and peak) eye velocity that was generated. In contrast, the bias ( b, firing rate when looking straight ahead) invariably increased with eye velocity. Although these trends are likely to reflect, in part, nonlinearities that are intrinsic to the extraocular muscles, we propose that these results can also be explained by considering the time-varying resistance to movement that is generated by the antagonist muscle. We conclude that to create realistic and meaningful models of the neural control of horizontal eye movements, it is essential to consider the activation of the antagonist, as well as agonist motoneuron pools.

Discharge patterns in nucleus prepositus hypoglossi and adjacent medial vestibular nucleus during horizontal eye movement in behaving macaques

1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. McFarland ◽  
A. F. Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Vestibular Nucleus ◽  
Medial Vestibular Nucleus ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Head Velocity ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
Prepositus Hypoglossi ◽  
Eye Velocity

1. Monkeys were trained to perform a variety of horizontal eye tracking tasks designed to reveal possible eye movement and vestibular sensitivities of neurons in the medulla. To test eye movement sensitivity, we required stationary monkeys to track a small spot that moved horizontally. To test vestibular sensitivity, we rotated the monkeys about a vertical axis and required them to fixate a target rotating with them to suppress the vestibuloocular reflex (VOR). 2. All of the 100 units described in our study were recorded from regions of the medulla that were prominently labeled after injections of horseradish peroxidase into the abducens nucleus. These regions include the nucleus prepositus hypoglossi (NPH), the medial vestibular nucleus (MVN), and their common border (the “marginal zone”). We report here the activities of three different types of neurons recorded in these regions. 3. Two types responded only during eye movements per se. Their firing rates increased with eye position; 86% had ipsilateral “on” directions. Almost three quarters (73%) of these medullary neurons exhibited a burst-tonic discharge pattern that is qualitatively similar to that of abducens motoneurons. There were, however, quantitative differences in that these medullary burst-position neurons were less sensitive to eye position than were abducens motoneurons and often did not pause completely for saccades in the off direction. The burst of medullary burst position neurons preceded the saccade by an average of 7.6 +/- 1.7 (SD) ms and, on average, lasted the duration of the saccade. The number of spikes in the burst was well correlated with saccade size. The second type of eye movement neuron displayed either no discernible burst or an inconsistent one for on-direction saccades and will be referred to as medullary position neurons. Neither the burst-position nor the position neurons responded when the animals suppressed the VOR; hence, they displayed no vestibular sensitivity. 4. The third type of neuron was sensitive to both eye movement and vestibular stimulation. These neurons increased their firing rates during horizontal head rotation and smooth pursuit eye movements in the same direction; most (76%) preferred ipsilateral head and eye movements. Their firing rates were approximately in phase with eye velocity during sinusoidal smooth pursuit and with head velocity during VOR suppression; on average, their eye velocity sensitivity was 50% greater than their vestibular sensitivity. Sixty percent of these eye/head velocity cells were also sensitive to eye position. 5. The NPH/MVN region contains many neurons that could provide an eye position signal to abducens neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

scholarly journals Saccades and smooth pursuit eye movements trigger equivalent gaze-cued orienting effects

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (9) ◽  
pp. 1860-1872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen RH Langton ◽  
Alex H McIntyre ◽  
Peter JB Hancock ◽  
Helmut Leder
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Orienting Effect ◽  
Motion Speed ◽  
Uncued Target

Research has established that a perceived eye gaze produces a concomitant shift in a viewer’s spatial attention in the direction of that gaze. The two experiments reported here investigate the extent to which the nature of the eye movement made by the gazer contributes to this orienting effect. On each trial in these experiments, participants were asked to make a speeded response to a target that could appear in a location toward which a centrally presented face had just gazed (a cued target) or in a location that was not the recipient of a gaze (an uncued target). The gaze cues consisted of either fast saccadic eye movements or slower smooth pursuit movements. Cued targets were responded to faster than uncued targets, and this gaze-cued orienting effect was found to be equivalent for each type of gaze shift both when the gazes were un-predictive of target location (Experiment 1) and counterpredictive of target location (Experiment 2). The results offer no support for the hypothesis that motion speed modulates gaze-cued orienting. However, they do suggest that motion of the eyes per se, regardless of the type of movement, may be sufficient to trigger an orienting effect.

scholarly journals Conscious and unconscious memory differentially impact attention: Eye movements, visual search, and recognition processes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Ramey ◽  
Andrew P. Yonelinas ◽  
John M. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Subjective Memory ◽  
Conscious Recollection ◽  
Memory Awareness ◽  
Efficient Extraction ◽  
Subjective Reports ◽  
Unconscious Memory

A hotly debated question is whether memory influences attention through conscious or unconscious processes. To address this controversy, we measured eye movements while participants searched repeated real-world scenes for embedded targets, and we assessed memory for each scene using confidence-based methods to isolate different states of subjective memory awareness. We found that memory-informed eye movements during visual search were predicted both by conscious recollection, which led to a highly precise first eye movement toward the remembered location, and by unconscious memory, which increased search efficiency by gradually directing the eyes toward the target throughout the search trial. In contrast, these eye movement measures were not influenced by familiarity-based memory (i.e., changes in subjective reports of memory strength). The results indicate that conscious recollection and unconscious memory can each play distinct and complementary roles in guiding attention to facilitate efficient extraction of visual information.

scholarly journals Representation of the Ipsilateral Visual Field by Neurons in the Macaque Lateral Intraparietal Cortex Depends on the Forebrain Commissures

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 2624-2633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine A. Dunn ◽  
Carol L. Colby
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Split Brain ◽  
Lateral Intraparietal Cortex

Our eyes are constantly moving, allowing us to attend to different visual objects in the environment. With each eye movement, a given object activates an entirely new set of visual neurons, yet we perceive a stable scene. One neural mechanism that may contribute to visual stability is remapping. Neurons in several brain regions respond to visual stimuli presented outside the receptive field when an eye movement brings the stimulated location into the receptive field. The stored representation of a visual stimulus is remapped, or updated, in conjunction with the saccade. Remapping depends on neurons being able to receive visual information from outside the classic receptive field. In previous studies, we asked whether remapping across hemifields depends on the forebrain commissures. We found that, when the forebrain commissures are transected, behavior dependent on accurate spatial updating is initially impaired but recovers over time. Moreover, neurons in lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) continue to remap information across hemifields in the absence of the forebrain commissures. One possible explanation for the preserved across-hemifield remapping in split-brain animals is that neurons in a single hemisphere could represent visual information from both visual fields. In the present study, we measured receptive fields of LIP neurons in split-brain monkeys and compared them with receptive fields in intact monkeys. We found a small number of neurons with bilateral receptive fields in the intact monkeys. In contrast, we found no such neurons in the split-brain animals. We conclude that bilateral representations in area LIP following forebrain commissures transection cannot account for remapping across hemifields.

Eye Movements in Cerebellar and Combined Cerebellobrainstem Diseases

1983 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Wennmo ◽  
Bengt Hindfelt ◽  
Ilmari Pyykkö
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Optokinetic Nystagmus ◽  
Vestibular Nystagmus ◽  
Full Field ◽  
Eye Velocity ◽  
Voluntary Saccades ◽  
Cerebellar Disorders

We report a quantitative analysis of eye movement disturbances in patients with isolated cerebellar disorders and patients with cerebellar disorders and concomitant brainstem involvement. The most characteristic abnormalities in the exclusively cerebellar patients were increased velocities of the slow phases of vestibular nystagmus induced by rotation in the dark and increased peak velocities of the fast phases of optokinetic nystagmus induced by full-field optokinetic stimuli. Dysmetria of saccades was found in three of six cerebellar patients and gaze nystagmus in all six patients. The typical findings in the combined cerebellobrainstem group were reduced peak velocities of voluntary saccades, defective smooth pursuit and reduced peak velocities of the fast component of nystagmus during rotation in both the dark and light. All patients with combined cerebellobrainstem disorder had dysmetric voluntary saccades and gaze nystagmus. The numbers of superimposed saccades during smooth pursuit were uniformly increased. Release of inhibition in cerebellar disorders may explain the hyperresponsiveness and inaccuracy of eye movements found in this study. In addition, when lesions also involve the brainstem, however, integrative centers coding eye velocity are affected, leading to slow and inaccurate eye movements. These features elicited clinically may be useful in the diagnosis of cerebellar and brainstem disorders.

Effects of smooth pursuit eye movement on ocular responses to sudden background motion in humans

1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuyo Suehiro ◽  
Ken-ichiro Miura ◽  
Yasushi Kodaka ◽  
Yuka Inoue ◽  
Aya Takemura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Smooth Pursuit Eye Movement ◽  
Background Motion

scholarly journals Maxwellian Eye Fixation during Natural Scene Perception

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Duchesne ◽  
Vincent Bouvier ◽  
Julien Guillemé ◽  
Olivier A. Coubard
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Scene Perception ◽  
Random Motion ◽  
Natural Scenes ◽  
Movement Amplitude ◽  
Natural Scene ◽  
Eye Fixation ◽  
Free Viewing ◽  
Natural Scene Perception

When we explore a visual scene, our eyes make saccades to jump rapidly from one area to another and fixate regions of interest to extract useful information. While the role of fixation eye movements in vision has been widely studied, their random nature has been a hitherto neglected issue. Here we conducted two experiments to examine the Maxwellian nature of eye movements during fixation. In Experiment 1, eight participants were asked to perform free viewing of natural scenes displayed on a computer screen while their eye movements were recorded. For each participant, the probability density function (PDF) of eye movement amplitude during fixation obeyed the law established by Maxwell for describing molecule velocity in gas. Only the mean amplitude of eye movements varied with expertise, which was lower in experts than novice participants. In Experiment 2, two participants underwent fixed time, free viewing of natural scenes and of their scrambled version while their eye movements were recorded. Again, the PDF of eye movement amplitude during fixation obeyed Maxwell’s law for each participant and for each scene condition (normal or scrambled). The results suggest that eye fixation during natural scene perception describes a random motion regardless of top-down or of bottom-up processes.

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