scholarly journals Visual feature tuning of superior colliculus neural reafferent responses after fixational microsaccades

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (6) ◽  
pp. 2136-2153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Khademi ◽  
Chih-Yang Chen ◽  
Ziad M. Hafed
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
Retinal Images ◽  
Visual Feature ◽  
Visual Patterns

Despite being diminutive, microsaccades still jitter retinal images. We investigated how such jitter affects superior colliculus (SC) activity. We found that SC neurons exhibit short-latency visual reafferent bursts after microsaccades. These bursts reflect not only the spatial luminance profiles of visual patterns but also how such profiles are shifted by eye movement size and direction. These results indicate that the SC continuously represents visual patterns, even as they are jittered by the smallest possible saccades.

scholarly journals Visual feature tuning of superior colliculus neural reafferent responses after fixational microsaccades

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Khademi ◽  
Chih-Yang Chen ◽  
Ziad M. Hafed
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
Movement Vector ◽  
Visual Patterns ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
Spatio Temporal

AbstractThe primate superior colliculus (SC) is causally involved in microsaccade generation. Moreover, visually-responsive SC neurons across this structure’s topographic map, even at peripheral eccentricities much larger than the tiny microsaccade amplitudes, exhibit significant modulations of evoked response sensitivity when stimuli appear peri-microsaccadically. However, during natural viewing, visual stimuli are normally stably present in the environment and are only shifted on the retina by eye movements. Here we investigated this scenario for the case of microsaccades, asking whether and how SC neurons respond to microsaccade-induced image jitter. We recorded neural activity from two male rhesus macaque monkeys. Within the response field (RF) of a neuron, there was a stable stimulus consisting of a grating of one of three possible spatial frequencies. The grating was stable on the display, but microsaccades periodically jittered the retinotopic RF location over it. We observed clear short-latency visual reafferent responses after microsaccades. These responses were weaker, but earlier (relative to new fixation onset after microsaccade end), than responses to sudden stimulus onsets without microsaccades. The reafferent responses clearly depended on microsaccade amplitude, as well as microsaccade direction relative to grating orientation. Our results indicate that one way for microsaccades to influence vision is through modulating how the spatio-temporal landscape of SC visual neural activity represents stable stimuli in the environment. Such representation strongly depends on the specific pattern of temporal luminance modulations expected from the relative relationship between eye movement vector (size and direction), on the one hand, and spatial visual pattern layout, on the other.Significance statementDespite being diminutive, microsaccades still jitter retinal images. We investigated how such jitter affects superior colliculus (SC) activity. We found that SC neurons exhibit short-latency visual reafferent bursts after microsaccades. These bursts reflect not only the spatial luminance profiles of visual patterns, but also how such profiles are shifted by eye movement size and direction. These results indicate that the SC continuously represents visual patterns, even as they are jittered by the smallest possible saccades.

scholarly journals A Neural Model of Multimodal Adaptive Saccadic Eye Movement Control by Superior Colliculus

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (24) ◽  
pp. 9706-9725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Grossberg ◽  
Karen Roberts ◽  
Mario Aguilar ◽  
Daniel Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Neural Model ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movement ◽  
Eye Movement Control

The effect of frontal eye field and superior colliculus lesions on saccadic latencies in the rhesus monkey

1987 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1033-1049 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. H. Schiller ◽  
J. H. Sandell ◽  
J. H. Maunsell
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Short Latency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Express Saccades ◽  
Unimodal Distribution ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
The Mean

Rhesus monkeys were trained to make saccadic eye movements to visual targets using detection and discrimination paradigms in which they were required to make a saccade either to a solitary stimulus (detection) or to that same stimulus when it appeared simultaneously with several other stimuli (discrimination). The detection paradigm yielded a bimodal distribution of saccadic latencies with the faster mode peaking around 100 ms (express saccades); the introduction of a pause between the termination of the fixation spot and the onset of the target (gap) increased the frequency of express saccades. The discrimination paradigm, on the other hand, yielded only a unimodal distribution of latencies even when a gap was introduced, and there was no evidence for short-latency "express" saccades. In three monkeys either the frontal eye field or the superior colliculus was ablated unilaterally. Frontal eye field ablation had no discernible long-term effects on the distribution of saccadic latencies in either the detection or discrimination tasks. After unilateral collicular ablation, on the other hand, express saccades obtained in the detection paradigm were eliminated for eye movements contralateral to the lesion, leaving only a unimodal distribution of latencies. This deficit persisted throughout testing, which in one monkey continued for 9 mo. Express saccades were not observed again for saccades contralateral to the lesion, and the mean latency of the contralateral saccades was longer than the mean latency of the second peak for the ipsiversive saccades. The latency distribution of saccades ipsiversive to the collicular lesion was unaffected except for a few days after surgery, during which time an increase in the proportion of express saccades was evident. Saccades obtained with the discrimination paradigm yielded a small but reliable increase in saccadic latencies following collicular lesions, without altering the shape of the distribution. Unilateral muscimol injections into the superior colliculus produced results similar to those obtained immediately after collicular lesions: saccades contralateral to the injection site were strongly inhibited and showed increased saccadic latencies. This was accompanied by a decrease of ipsilateral saccadic latencies and an increase in the number of saccades falling into the express range. The results suggest that the superior colliculus is essential for the generation of short-latency (express) saccades and that the frontal eye fields do not play a significant role in shaping the distribution of saccadic latencies in the paradigms used in this study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Target Selection for Saccadic Eye Movements: Direction-Selective Visual Responses in the Superior Colliculus

2001 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
pp. 2527-2542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory D. Horwitz ◽  
William T. Newsome
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Saccade Target ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Direction Discrimination ◽  
Deep Layers

We investigated the role of the superior colliculus (SC) in saccade target selection in rhesus monkeys who were trained to perform a direction-discrimination task. In this task, the monkey discriminated between opposed directions of visual motion and indicated its judgment by making a saccadic eye movement to one of two visual targets that were spatially aligned with the two possible directions of motion in the display. Thus the neural circuits that implement target selection in this task are likely to receive directionally selective visual inputs and be closely linked to the saccadic system. We therefore studied prelude neurons in the intermediate and deep layers of the SC that can discharge up to several seconds before an impending saccade, indicating a relatively high-level role in saccade planning. We used the direction-discrimination task to identify neurons whose prelude activity “predicted” the impending perceptual report several seconds before the animal actually executed the operant eye movement; these “choice predicting” cells comprised ∼30% of the neurons we encountered in the intermediate and deep layers of the SC. Surprisingly, about half of these prelude cells yielded direction-selective responses to our motion stimulus during a passive fixation task. In general, these neurons responded to motion stimuli in many locations around the visual field including the center of gaze where the visual discriminanda were positioned during the direction-discrimination task. Preferred directions generally pointed toward the location of the movement field of the SC neuron in accordance with the sensorimotor demands of the discrimination task. Control experiments indicate that the directional responses do not simply reflect covertly planned saccades. Our results indicate that a small population of SC prelude neurons exhibits properties appropriate for linking stimulus cues to saccade target selection in the context of a visual discrimination task.

Organization of monkey superior colliculus: intermediate layer cells discharging before eye movements

1976 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. W. Mohler ◽  
R. H. Wurtz
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Intermediate Layer ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Superficial Layer ◽  
Cell Discharge ◽  
Intermediate Layers ◽  
Dorsal Edge

1. We investigated the characteristics of cells in the intermediate layers of the superior colliculus that increase their rate of discharge before saccadic eye movements. Eye movements were repeatedly elicited by training rhesus monkeys to fixate on a spot of light and to make saccades to other spots of light when the fixation spot was turned off. 2. The eye movement cells showed consistent variations with their depth within the colliculus. The onset of the cell discharge led the eye movement by less time and the duration of the discharge was shorter as the cell was located closer to the dorsal edge of the intermediate layers. The movements fields (that area of the visual field where a saccade into the area is preceded by a burst of cell discharges) of each successive cell also became smaller as the cells were located more dorsally. The profile of peak discharge frequency remained fairly flat throughout the movement field of the cells regardless of depth of the cell within the colliculus. 3. A new type of eye movement-related cell has been found which usually lies at the border between the superficial and intermediate layers. This cell type, the visually triggered movement cell, increased its rate of discharge before saccades made to a visual stimulus but not before spontaneous saccades of equal amplitude made in the light or the dark. A vigorous discharge of these cells before an eye movement was dependent on the presence of a visual target; the cells seemed to combine the visual input of superficial layer cells and the movement-related input of the intermediate layer cells. The size of the movement fields of these cells were about the same size as the visual fields of superficial layer cells just above them...

scholarly journals Short-Latency Visual Input to the Subthalamic Nucleus Is Provided by the Midbrain Superior Colliculus

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (17) ◽  
pp. 5701-5709 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Coizet ◽  
J. H. Graham ◽  
J. Moss ◽  
J. P. Bolam ◽  
M. Savasta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Subthalamic Nucleus ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Short Latency

scholarly journals Gaze Self-Similarity Plot - A New Visualization Technique

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pawel Kasprowski ◽  
Katarzyna Harezlak
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Recurrence Plots ◽  
Visualization Technique ◽  
Self Similarity ◽  
Heat Maps ◽  
Visual Patterns ◽  
Scan Paths ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Visualization Techniques ◽  
Similarity Plot

Eye tracking has become a valuable way for extending knowledge of human behavior based on visual patterns. One of the most important elements of such an analysis is the presentation of obtained results, which proves to be a challenging task. Traditional visualization techniques such as scan-paths or heat maps may reveal interesting information, nonetheless many useful features are still not visible, especially when temporal characteristics of eye movement is taken into account. This paper introduces a technique called gaze self-similarity plot (GSSP) that may be applied to visualize both spatial and temporal eye movement features on the single two-dimensional plot. The technique is an extension of the idea of recurrence plots, commonly used in time series analysis. The paper presents the basic concepts of the proposed approach (two types of GSSP) complemented with some examples of what kind of information may be disclosed and finally showing areas of the GSSP possible applications.

scholarly journals Peri-saccadic perceptual mislocalization is different for upward saccades

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikola Grujic ◽  
Nils Brehm ◽  
Cordula Gloge ◽  
Weijie Zhuo ◽  
Ziad M. Hafed
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Conceptual Modeling ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Retinal Images ◽  
Lower Visual Field ◽  
Perceptual Stability ◽  
The Face

AbstractSaccadic eye movements, which dramatically alter retinal images, are associated with robust peri-movement perceptual alterations. Such alterations, thought to reflect brain mechanisms for maintaining perceptual stability in the face of saccade-induced retinalimage disruptions, are often studied by asking subjects to localize brief stimuli presented around the time of horizontal saccades. However, other saccade directions are not usually explored. Motivated by recently discovered asymmetries in upper and lower visual field representations in the superior colliculus, a structure important for both saccade generation and visual analysis, here we observed significant differences in peri-saccadic perceptual alterations for upward saccades relative to other saccade directions. We also found that, even for purely horizontal saccades, perceptual alterations differ for upper versus lower retinotopic stimulus locations. Our results, coupled with conceptual modeling, suggest that peri-saccadic perceptual alterations might critically depend on neural circuits, like superior colliculus, that asymmetrically represent the upper and lower visual fields.

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