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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 4, 2007, 27(14):3759-3767; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4958-06.2007

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Microstimulation of the Midbrain Tegmentum Creates Learning Signals for Saccade Adaptation

Yoshiko Kojima, Kaoru Yoshida, and Yoshiki Iwamoto

Department of Neurophysiology, Doctoral Program in Kansei Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan

Correspondence should be addressed to Yoshiki Iwamoto, Department of Neurophysiology, Doctoral Program in Kansei Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan. Email: iwamoto{at}md.tsukuba.ac.jp

Error signals are vital to motor learning. However, we know little about pathways that transmit error signals for learning in voluntary movements. Here we show that microstimulation of the midbrain tegmentum can induce learning in saccadic eye movements in monkeys. Weak electrical stimuli delivered 200 ms after saccades in one horizontal direction produced gradual and marked changes in saccade gain. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the produced changes were similar to those of adaptation induced by real visual error. When stimulation was applied after saccades in two different directions, endpoints of these saccades gradually shifted in the same direction in two dimensions. We conclude that microstimulation created powerful learning signals that dictate the direction of adaptive shift in movement endpoints. Our findings suggest that the error signals for saccade adaptation are conveyed in a pathway that courses through the midbrain tegmentum.

Key words: motor learning; electrical stimulation; midbrain; saccade; adaptation; macaque; monkey

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Received Nov. 15, 2006; revised Feb. 26, 2007; accepted Feb. 27, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Yoshiki Iwamoto, Department of Neurophysiology, Doctoral Program in Kansei Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan. Email: iwamoto{at}md.tsukuba.ac.jp

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. Kaku, K. Yoshida, and Y. Iwamoto Learning Signals from the Superior Colliculus for Adaptation of Saccadic Eye Movements in the Monkey J. Neurosci., April 22, 2009; 29(16): 5266 - 5275. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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