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Volume 17, Number 11,
Issue of June 1, 1997
pp. 4312-4330
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience
How Is a Sensory Map Read Out? Effects of Microstimulation in
Visual Area MT on Saccades and Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements
Jennifer M. Groh,
Richard T. Born, and
William T. Newsome
Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford,
California 94305
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
FOOTNOTES
APPENDIX
REFERENCES
ABSTRACT
To generate behavioral responses based on sensory input,
motor areas of the brain must interpret, or "read out," signals
from sensory maps. Our experiments tested several algorithms for how the motor systems for smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements might
extract a usable signal of target velocity from the distributed representation of velocity in the middle temporal visual area (MT or
V5). Using microstimulation, we attempted to manipulate the velocity
information within MT while monkeys tracked a moving visual stimulus.
We examined the effects of the microstimulation on smooth pursuit and
on the compensation for target velocity shown by saccadic eye
movements. Microstimulation could alter both the speed and direction of
the motion estimates of both types of eye movements and could also
cause monkeys to generate pursuit even when the visual target was
actually stationary. The pattern of alterations suggests that
microstimulation can introduce an additional velocity signal into MT
and that the pursuit and saccadic systems usually compute a vector
average of the visually evoked and microstimulation-induced velocity
signals (pursuit, 55 of 122 experiments; saccades, 70 of 122).
Microstimulation effects in a few experiments were consistent with
vector summation of these two signals (pursuit, 6 of 122; saccades, 2 of 122). In the remainder of the experiments, microstimulation caused
either an apparent impairment in motion processing (pursuit, 47 of 122; saccades, 41 of 122) or had no effect (pursuit, 14 of 122; saccades, 9 of 122). Within individual experiments, the effects on pursuit and
saccades were usually similar, but the occasional striking exception
suggests that the two eye movement systems may perform motion
computations somewhat independently.
Key words:
vector averaging;
vector summation;
winner-take-all,
smooth pursuit;
pursuit initiation;
saccades;
saccadic target velocity
compensation;
middle temporal visual area;
area MT;
area V5;
visual
coding;
velocity;
motion processing
INTRODUCTION
In the natural world, organisms collect and
analyze sensory information for the purpose of guiding movements. For
many visually guided movements, the neural pathway from sensory event
to behavior begins with several processing stages in the visual cortex.
Yet visual signals in the cerebral cortex differ substantially from those required to produce motor responses. Cortical sensory maps consist of arrays of neurons with different receptive field locations and different selectivities for stimulus features. Motor commands, however, encode movement parameters in a very different format: as
graded firing rates specifying the muscle contractions for movements.
To generate visually guided movements, cortical visual signals must be
properly interpreted, or "read out," by brain areas responsible for
generating these motor commands.
How does the brain read out sensory signals to produce an
appropriate behavioral response? We have explored this problem by manipulating neural activity with electrical microstimulation while
rhesus monkeys made eye movements to moving visual targets. Specifically, we attempted to introduce artificial motion signals into
the visual cortex by stimulating the middle temporal visual area (MT),
an area known to provide visual motion signals for visually guided
behavior (for review, see Newsome and Wurtz, 1988 ; Albright, 1993 ). MT
neurons are tuned for both the direction and speed of visual stimuli
(Dubner and Zeki, 1971 ; Zeki, 1974 ; Maunsell and Van Essen, 1983 ;
Albright, 1984 ) and are organized topographically based on their
direction selectivity; neurons sharing similar preferred directions are
clustered together in columns (Albright et al., 1984 ; Malonek et al.,
1994 ), although topography for speed tuning has not been demonstrated.
We microstimulated within this velocity representation while monkeys
tracked moving visual targets with their eyes. By analyzing the
monkeys' eye movements in response to this combination of visually and
electrically evoked signals, we sought insight into the algorithms used
for interpreting the motion map in area MT.
Tracking moving visual targets involves two kinds of eye
movements: saccades, which are high velocity movements designed to bring a target of interest onto the fovea as quickly as possible; and
pursuit movements, which match the direction and speed of the eyes to
the direction and speed of the visual target, minimizing the slip of
the target on the retina. Clearly, pursuit movements require a neural
signal of target velocity to achieve their goal, whereas
saccades are primarily concerned with the position of the
target (Rashbass, 1961 ). (Throughout this article we use the term
velocity in its vectorial sense, meaning both direction and speed
rather than the scalar speed alone.) Because it takes time to generate
a saccade, however, the saccadic system must use velocity signals as
well. Just as basketball players aim passes at the future positions of
moving teammates based on their current velocity, similarly the
saccadic system must use a velocity signal to anticipate and compensate
for ongoing target motion. This ensures that the end point of the
saccade will fall on the target, not some distance behind it (Newsome
et al., 1985 ; Ron et al., 1989 ; Keller and Steen Johnsen, 1990 ; Gellman
and Carl, 1991 ; Schiller and Lee, 1994 ; Keller et al., 1996 ) (but see
Heywood and Churcher, 1981 ).
Although the motor commands ultimately generated by these two systems
are quite different, both systems face the problem of computing a
single velocity from an array of MT neurons having different preferred
velocities and different firing rates. We considered three simple
models for how a single velocity could be computed: vector summation,
vector averaging, and winner-take-all. In these models, each neuron in
MT can be thought of as "voting" for the vector of its preferred
velocity, with the strength of its vote being proportional to its
firing rate and to the synaptic weight(s) of its projection(s) to the
hypothetical locus that computes a single velocity output. For vector
summation, a single velocity is computed by adding together the
preferred velocity vectors in proportion to the strength of the votes
for each one. For vector averaging, the preferred velocities are
averaged together, again in proportion to the strength of the vote for
each. For winner-take-all, the winner is the single velocity vector
receiving the most votes.
Any of these three mechanisms can compute the velocity of a
single visual stimulus viewed under normal conditions. If,
however, an additional motion signal is introduced artificially through microstimulation, the types of errors predicted by each mechanism differ substantially. (Fig. 1, also see Fig. 7). As we
will show, comparison of our data with these predictions suggests that
vector averaging is the mechanism most commonly used by both the
pursuit and saccadic systems for reading a velocity signal from MT.
Fig. 1.
Three algorithms for selecting a single
velocity vector from two velocity signals in MT. The vectors labeled
V correspond to a visual target moving rapidly to the
right, whereas the vectors labeled E correspond to an
artificial velocity signal produced by microstimulation in a column
tuned for slower upward and rightward motion. A vector summation
mechanism should cause the animal to track the target as if its
velocity were the sum of the real velocity and the velocity signaled by
the microstimulation. Under a vector-averaging scheme, the animal
should track the target as if it were moving at the vector average of
the visual and electrical velocity signals. Note that the sum and the
average of two vectors have the same direction but different magnitudes
(speeds). The behavior predicted by a winner-take-all mechanism depends
on which velocity signal wins. If the visual signal wins, the animal
should ignore the electrical velocity signal and behave normally on
stimulated trials. If the electrical signal wins, the animal should
ignore the real velocity of the visual target and behave as if the
target were moving at the velocity signaled by the microstimulation. If
the strengths of the electrical and visual signals are comparable, the
animal should alternate between these two behaviors, producing a
bimodal distribution of tracking velocities.
[View Larger Version of this Image (15K GIF file)]
Fig. 7.
Pattern of results predicted by each hypothesis
for a range of target velocities. Suppose microstimulation injects an
artificial signal corresponding to slow upward and rightward motion,
and four different visual target velocities are presented (up, down, left, and right) (A). B-E, Expected
results for each possible mechanism. Pursuit velocity or saccadic
target velocity compensation on nonstimulated trials for each visual
target velocity are plotted as open circles, whereas
stimulated trials for the same target velocities are plotted as
filled circles and connected to the corresponding
nonstimulated data point.
[View Larger Version of this Image (22K GIF file)]
Brief reports of this material have appeared previously (Born et al.,
1995 ; Groh et al., 1995 , 1996a ,b ).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Monkeys and surgical procedures. One female and one
male rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) served as subjects in
these experiments. The experimental protocols were approved by the
Stanford University Animal Care and Use Committee. In a sterile
surgical procedure under halothane anesthesia, a coil of fine wire was
implanted between the conjunctiva and the sclera for the measurement of eye position (Robinson, 1963 ; Judge et al., 1980 ). In the same procedure, stainless steel bone screws were implanted in the skull, and
a fixture for immobilizing the head was attached using dental acrylic.
Behavioral training on a variety of oculomotor tasks began no sooner
than 1 week after surgery. Monkeys were placed on a restricted fluid
intake schedule and received water as reinforcement during training and
experimental sessions. The animals were seated comfortably in a primate
chair for these sessions. When behavioral training was complete,
animals underwent a second surgery for implantation of a cylinder for
chronic electrophysiological experiments in area MT.
Visual stimuli and behavioral tasks. Visual stimuli
were presented on a Mitsubishi monitor (21 × 27 inches, 24 inches
away). Monkeys were trained to perform three types of behavioral tasks: (1) fixation trials, (2) saccade only or step
trials, and (3) combined saccade and pursuit or step-ramp
trials (Fig. 2). On fixation trials, monkeys fixated
within ±3° of a small red spot for 4.5-9.3 sec. This trial type was
used for mapping receptive fields and assessing visual response
properties of MT neurons. On step and step-ramp trials, the animal
looked toward the red fixation spot for 500-1300 msec, at which time
the fixation spot disappeared and a second spot appeared elsewhere in
the visual field. This target could be either stationary (step trials)
or it could move with a constant velocity (step-ramp trials). The animal made a saccade to this second target within 400 msec and either
fixated (step trials) or pursued the target for 1.3-8 sec, depending
on the speed of the target (step-ramp trials). Step trials were nearly
always randomly interleaved with step-ramp trials. As described below,
the step location and ramp velocity were tailored in each experiment to
the receptive field location and velocity selectivity of the MT site to
be stimulated. Monkeys sometimes received multiple rewards for longer
fixation or tracking periods, in which case the first reward was
delivered after at least 1.4 sec of tracking or fixation.
Fig. 2.
Schematic illustration of the events in the
step-ramp task in space (top) and time
(bottom) for a typical experiment. A monkey first looked
at a fixation point, and then a moving target appeared in the receptive
field of the cells at the microstimulation site. The monkey made a
saccade to the position of the target and used smooth pursuit to move
the eyes at the same velocity as the target. On half of the trials, a
train of microstimulation (Microstim) pulses was
delivered from the time of target onset until the saccade to the
target. The velocity of pursuit was measured during the period 20-60
msec after the saccade to the target (shaded region). The saccadic target velocity compensation was measured by computing the
difference between the end point of the saccade and the starting position of the target and dividing by the time elapsed between target
onset and saccade offset.
[View Larger Version of this Image (14K GIF file)]
Recording and microstimulation techniques. Standard
electrophysiological recording techniques were used (for details, see Britten et al., 1992 ). The electrodes entered the brain in V1 or V2 and
moved anteroventrally in the sagittal plane toward MT. Transitions
between gray and white matter were noted, and MT was identified based
on its depth, prevalence of directionally selective visual responses,
receptive field size, and visual topography. MT was easily
distinguished from the neighboring middle superior temporal area MST
based on the ratio of receptive field size to eccentricity, which is
much lower in MT than in MST (Van Essen et al., 1981 ; Desimone and
Ungerleider, 1986 ).
Once the electrode entered MT, we explored the receptive field
properties of single units and multiunit clusters. While the animal
maintained fixation, the borders of the receptive field were
qualitatively identified using computer-generated stimuli such as
moving or flashing bars or patches of moving dots. We then
qualitatively assessed the direction tuning at the site using moving
bars, dots, or both. This process was repeated every 100 µm until we
identified a stretch of at least 200 µm in which the direction-tuning
properties were similar. We then placed the electrode at or near the
middle of the stretch in preparation for conducting a microstimulation
experiment.a
Before beginning microstimulation, we measured the sensitivity of the
multiunit activity at the stimulation site to the speed of visual
stimuli using either a patch of moving dots or a bar, usually moving at
speeds of 5-30°/sec in the preferred direction. We judged the speed
preferences of the site by ear at 36 experimental sites, and we stored
multiunit data on speed selectivity and categorized the best speed
off-line at a total of 68 sites in both monkeys. When dots were used as
the visual stimulus, they were presented for 2 sec, and the average
firing rate over the entire period was used as the response metric. For
moving bars, the response metric was the average firing rate over a
time window equal to the duration of the sweep of the bar through the
receptive field. The duration of this window varied inversely,
therefore, with the speed of the bar (Movshon, 1975 ; Orban et al.,
1981 ). The best speed was defined as the stimulus speed that elicited
the greatest response.
After collecting the speed-tuning data, we began the microstimulation
phase of the experiment, stimulating through the same electrode that
was used for recording. Stimulated trials were randomly interleaved
with an equal proportion of nonstimulated trials and were identical to
nonstimulated trials in all other respects. We used biphasic
stimulating pulses (cathodal phase leading; phase length, 0.2 msec;
interphase interval, 0.1 msec) at a frequency of 200 Hz (Bak
Electronics pulse generator and stimulus isolation unit). In our
initial series of 47 experiments, we tried several different current
levels ranging from 10 to 80 µA for the purpose of choosing a
standard current to use for the rest of the experiments. Based on the
results of this first set of experiments, we chose 40 µA as our
default current, and we used this current level for at least one block
of trials for the rest of the experiments, although if time permitted
we also used currents of 20 or 80 µA. When more than one current
level was used, only the data for the current level that yielded the
strongest effect were included in the present database.
To ensure that visually evoked and electrically induced activity in MT
coincided in time, the train of pulses was turned on at, or 40 msec
after, the onset of the visual tracking target. The 40 msec delay was
chosen to approximate typical latencies of visual responses in MT
(Maunsell and Van Essen, 1983 ; Maunsell, 1986 ; Mikami et al., 1986 )
(but see Raiguel et al., 1989 ) and was used for 102 of 122 experiments
(all but the first 20). The stimulation train was terminated at the
time of the saccade to the target, because the saccade removed the
visual target from the receptive field of the stimulation site (Fig.
2). Because of the variability in saccade reaction time, train
durations could range from 60 to 360 msec but were usually between 110 and 180 msec.
The stimulation could influence the performance of the monkeys on the
behavioral tracking task during the first several hundred milliseconds
of target motion, after which they generally made corrective saccades
and continued to track the target accurately through the completion of
the trial (see Results). To ensure that the monkeys were not unduly
penalized for stimulation-induced errors in their initial pursuit and
saccades, we made the window around the target large enough so that the
saccades brought the eyes into the window on both stimulated and
nonstimulated trials for each stimulation site. It was also large
enough that short duration disruptions in pursuit would not cause the
eyes to leave the window. The typical target window size was ±4°,
although for large microstimulation effects we made it as large as
±8°. Window sizes were the same on stimulated and nonstimulated
trials. Reward was contingent on the monkeys continuing to track the
target for at least an additional 900 msec after any
stimulation-induced changes in saccades or pursuit. With these
criteria, the frequency of aborted trials was the same on stimulated
and on nonstimulated trials (nonstimulated trials, 94.8% correct;
stimulated trials, 93.1% correct; t test, p > 0.05). Only successfully completed trials are included in the
database.
Target position, directions, and speeds. Our database
consists of 122 microstimulation experiments in which eye movement data were collected for targets moving at one or more speeds in both the
preferred direction and the direction opposite to the preferred direction (the null direction). For the vast majority of these (111 of
122 experiments), data were obtained for at least two speeds in both
directions. In later experiments in both monkeys, we also included
target motion in directions orthogonal to the preferred-null axis (56 of 122). If time permitted, we conducted a more thorough sampling of
velocity space, with as many as 25 different target velocities. Between
20 and 40 trials were conducted for each target velocity, with
microstimulation occurring on a randomly selected 50% of the trials.
Different sets of target velocities were often collected in separate
blocks, which were combined if the effects for similar target
velocities in the two blocks were reasonably stationary. Individual
blocks of trials nearly always contained at least three or four target
velocities, so that target velocity was unpredictable for the animal.
Targets were presented within the multiunit receptive field at the
microstimulation site. To allow presentation of long ramps of target
motion in different directions on our monitor, we positioned the
initial fixation point at an eccentric location such that the receptive
field was at the center of the monitor. For all targets, we centered
the initial trajectory rather than position within the receptive field. In other words, the initial positions of
targets moving in different directions were offset from center of the
receptive field so that the targets moved across the center and
remained within the receptive field during the brief interval of
microstimulation. For the first 103 experiments, targets moving at
different speeds were offset by the same amount; for the last 20 experiments, targets were offset by an amount proportional to the
speed. In 13 experiments, we interleaved two or more different starting
locations for each target velocity to test for possible effects of
target position on the microstimulation results. As will be shown in
Results, the precise starting location of the target within the
receptive field had little or no impact on the results over the range
tested. For all experiments, targets were placed at the center of the
receptive field for step trials. Because the targets were always
presented in the multiunit receptive field of the microstimulation
site, target location was roughly predictable from trial to trial.
However, different directions and/or speeds of target motion were
randomly interleaved and therefore not predictable.
Data collection and analysis. Horizontal and vertical eye
position were sampled at a rate of 250 Hz and stored for further analysis. Eye velocity and acceleration were calculated off-line through software differentiation. A saccade-detecting algorithm marked
the starting and ending positions of all saccades based on their
acceleration profiles. Then, an error-checking routine discarded trials
if any of the following conditions were met: (1) the latency of the
saccade to the target was <100 msec or >400 msec; (2) the saccade to
the target lasted more than 75 msec (which could happen if two saccades
were erroneously lumped together by the saccade detector); (3) any
nontargeting saccades were made before the saccade to the target; and
(4) a corrective saccade occurred <60 msec after the saccade to the
target, prematurely interrupting the epoch of pursuit after the
targeting saccade. Fewer than 5% of trials were discarded based on
these criteria. We tested the saccade detector and error-checking
routine extensively and monitored their performance by visually
inspecting selected trials and adjusting the parameters of the
algorithm if necessary. The performance of the algorithm was highly
reliable: on a randomly selected data set of 716 trials, we found that
the saccade end points were identified correctly on 713 trials
(99.6%).
To prevent any contamination of our pursuit velocity measurement by
errors in saccade identification, we confined our analysis to pursuit
starting 20 msec after the offset of the saccade. Our metric of pursuit
was the average eye velocity over the period 20-60 msec after the
saccade. Average eye velocity was calculated from the eye position
samples; the total displacement in eye position across this interval
was divided by the duration. We found that the microstimulation effects
were largest and most stable during this period, and by 80 msec, the
effects often started to decrease. Because of delays for visual
processing (for review, see Lisberger et al., 1987 ), this epoch of
pursuit was governed by the visual and electrical signals that were
present before the saccade, in other words, when the visual target was
in the receptive field and the microstimulation was turned on. We did
not analyze pursuit initiated before the saccade, because the
occurrence and magnitude of presaccadic pursuit were variable and
depended on the geometry of target position and trajectory, with
presaccadic pursuit being more pronounced for target motions toward the
fovea.
To facilitate comparison of microstimulation on pursuit and saccades,
we quantified the effects on saccades in the velocity domain. We
measured the end point of each saccade and the latency from target
onset until the end of the saccade. The difference between the saccade
end point and the starting position of the target was then divided by
the latency, yielding a measure of the velocity of target for which the
saccade would have been appropriate. We refer to this metric as the
saccadic target velocity compensation (Heywood and Churcher,
1981 ; Ron et al., 1989 ; Keller and Steen Johnsen, 1990 ; Gellman and
Carl, 1991 ).b Because even small systematic
errors in saccade accuracy or in the calibration of the eye coil system
could introduce a bias in this metric, we applied a correction for
baseline saccadic target velocity compensation for each experiment. We
estimated this bias by calculating the mean saccadic target velocity
compensation on nonstimulated trials with stationary targets (step
trials). (Under ideal conditions, with perfect calibration of the eye
coil system, this quantity should be 0, because the target does not move on step trials.) We then subtracted this amount from the saccadic
target velocity compensation on stimulated and nonstimulated trials for
all target velocities. This correction was performed before the
quantitative regression analysis described in Results and was applied
to the data shown in Figures 8, 9, 13, and 14.
Fig. 8.
Actual pattern of microstimulation effects for a
range of target velocities at one site in MT (same site as in Fig. 4).
A, Plot of vertical versus horizontal velocity of
pursuit for a number of different target velocities. Each point is the
mean pursuit velocity for 15-20 nonstimulated (blue) or
stimulated (red) trials for a particular target velocity
[a, 135°, 25°/sec; b, 45°,
25°/sec (two sets)]; c, 0°, 25°/sec;
d, 315°, 25°/sec (two sets); e,
270°, 25°/sec; f, 225°, 25°/sec (two sets);
g, step trials, 0°/sec. A direction of 0°
corresponds to straight right, 90° corresponds to straight up, etc.
SE bars are shown as well. B, Saccadic target velocity
compensation for the same trials in a similar fashion. C, D, Pursuit velocity and saccadic
target velocity compensation on the individual trials for three of the
target velocities: up right (b), up left
(a), and down left (f) at
25°/sec. The velocity centroids calculated using the multivariate
regression analysis (see Results for details) are plotted in each panel
( ). The preferred direction for this site was down and to the right
(inset). The current level was 40 µA. Note the
different scales on the axes for the pursuit and saccade panels because
of naturally occurring gain differences for pursuit and saccadic target
velocity compensation.
[View Larger Version of this Image (32K GIF file)]
Fig. 9.
Vector summation patterns for pursuit
(A) and saccadic target velocity compensation
(B) at two different microstimulation sites. Conventions
are similar to those in Figure 8. Insets, Receptive field locations and preferred directions for each site
(A: receptive field position, 30° to the left, 10°
down; receptive field diameter, 30°; preferred direction, 150°;
preferred speed, 30°/sec; B: receptive field position,
1° horizontally, 4° vertically; receptive field diameter, 7°;
preferred direction, 225°; preferred speed, 15°/sec). For the
experiment shown in A, the target directions were 60, 150, 240, and 330°, and the target speeds were 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and
30°/sec. For the experiment shown in B, the target
directions were 45, 135, 225, and 315°. Target speeds were 0 (step
trials), 5, 15, and 25°/sec. For both sites, the current level was 40 µA.
[View Larger Version of this Image (19K GIF file)]
Fig. 13.
Two examples of experiments in which
microstimulation affected pursuit and saccadic target velocity
compensation differently. The data shown in C are the
same as in Figure 9A. Conventions are the same as
Figures 8, A and B, and 9. The receptive
field location for the experiment in A and
B was 27° to the left, 11° down, the preferred
direction was 0° (inset), the receptive field diameter
was 20°, and the preferred speed was 40°/sec. Targets moved in one
of four directions (0, 90, 180, or 270°) at one of six speeds (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30°/sec). The current level was 40 µA for both
sites. Centroids ( ) are shown in A, B, D. Because the
data in C show a vector summation pattern, the magnitude of the centroid is undefined, and the direction of the centroid is
shown by the arrow.
[View Larger Version of this Image (34K GIF file)]
Fig. 14.
Influence of starting position of the target on
the effects of microstimulation. The targets came on either in the
center of the receptive field (solid lines) or offset
from the center by 2.75° so that they crossed the center after about
110 msec (dotted lines). The microstimulation site is
the same as in Figures 4 and 8. Conventions are similar to those in
Figures 8, 9, and 13. The targets moved in one of four directions (45, 135, 225, or 315°) at 25°/sec. The current level was 40 µA.
[View Larger Version of this Image (17K GIF file)]
A similar correction was necessary for the pursuit data. Both of the
monkeys in our study exhibited a small amount of eye drift (average,
0.7°/sec), even when fixating stationary targets. To correct for this
eye drift, we measured the average eye velocity during the 20-60 msec
after the saccade on the nonstimulated step trials for each experiment.
We then subtracted this velocity from the eye velocity for the same
period on both stimulated and nonstimulated step and step-ramp trials
for that experiment. Again, this correction was performed before the
regression analysis described in Results and was applied to the data
shown in Figures 8, 9, 13, and 14.
RESULTS
Influence of microstimulation on pursuit and saccadic target
velocity compensation
Microstimulation could exert striking effects on both pursuit and
saccadic target velocity compensation. In the next several figures
(Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6), we will show individual examples of how microstimulation
can alter the speed and direction of the motion estimates of these
tracking eye movements. An appreciation for the raw data will set the
stage for subsequent consideration of the vector summation, vector
averaging, and winner-take-all hypotheses.
Fig. 3.
Effects of microstimulation on pursuit and
saccadic target velocity compensation at one microstimulation site.
A, B, D, E, Eye position versus time for targets moving
in the preferred (A, B) or null (D, E)
direction of the site on nonstimulated (No Stim; A, D)
or stimulated (Stim; B, E) trials. The effects of
stimulation on saccadic velocity compensation can be seen in these
panels, whereas the effects on pursuit are best appreciated in
C and F, which show averaged traces of
eye speed versus time for the same trials. The dotted
lines represent the SEs of the average traces. The
individual trials were aligned on the end point of the saccade (time
0), and the saccade itself was excised before the average traces were
computed. Note that the time axis is expanded in these panels to
demonstrate more clearly the effects on pursuit during the first
20-150 msec after the saccade. [The greater speed of the initial
pursuit on nonstimulated trials for null direction motion
(F) than for preferred direction motion
(C) reflects a naturally occurring asymmetry in pursuit
speed.] The position traces show the position component along the
preferred-null axis (with the preferred direction positive), whereas
the speed traces show speed in the direction of target motion. The
position traces (A, B, D, E) are aligned on target onset
(time 0). The position and motion of the target are indicated by the
thick straight lines. Inset in A,
Receptive field location (circle, to the right
6.8°, up 5.6°) and the preferred direction of motion
(arrow, 225°). As described in Materials and Methods,
the fixation point was offset so that the receptive field was centered
on the monitor (position 0). The diameter of the receptive field was
8°, as indicated by the shaded bars on the position
axes of A, B, D, E. The preferred speed was not measured
at this site. The current level was 20 µA on stimulated trials.
[View Larger Version of this Image (42K GIF file)]
Fig. 4.
Microstimulation can alter the direction of
pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation. The trajectory of
pursuit over the first 100 msec after the saccade to the target is
shown for nonstimulated (No stim) trials in
A and for stimulated (Stim) trials in
B. The traces are aligned on the end point of the
saccade in space. The saccadic target velocity compensation on
stimulated ( ) and nonstimulated ( ) trials is shown in
C. The target moved to the right at 25°/sec
(arrow), and the preferred direction of this site was
down and to the right (arrow). Inset in
A, Receptive field location
(circle, 10.8° to the left, 4.6° down) and preferred direction (arrow, 315°). The receptive field diameter
was 11°, and the preferred speed was 25°/sec at this site. The
current level was 40 µA on stimulated trials.
[View Larger Version of this Image (21K GIF file)]
Fig. 5.
Microstimulation can cause pursuit in the
direction opposite to the actual motion of the target. For all the
trials shown, the target moved in the null direction. The position
traces (A, B) show the eye position along the
preferred-null axis, with downward deflections indicating null
direction motion. C, Average eye speed in the direction
of target motion as a function of time. The thick straight
lines indicate the position and motion of the target. Inset in A, Location of the receptive
field (circle, 24.6° to the right, 7.3° up) and the
preferred direction (arrow, 0°) at this site. The
receptive field diameter was 13.2° (shaded bars). The
current level was 80 µA. The speed tuning of this site was not
tested. No Stim, Nonstimulated trials;
Stim, stimulated trials.
[View Larger Version of this Image (20K GIF file)]
Fig. 6.
Microstimulation can elicit pursuit and saccadic
target velocity compensation to stationary targets. The eye position
and speed traces show the component along the preferred-null axis, with upward deflections corresponding to the preferred direction. The
receptive field was located 8.6° to the right and 2.8° up, the
preferred direction was 225° (inset), and the
receptive field diameter was 8° (shaded bars). The
current level was 80 µA. The speed tuning at this site was not
tested. No Stim, Nonstimulated trials;
Stim, stimulated trials.
[View Larger Version of this Image (20K GIF file)]
Pursuit speed could be either increased or decreased by
microstimulation, depending on the velocity of the target. Figure 3 illustrates an example of such effects. In this
experiment, the target "stepped" to the receptive field and moved
at 10°/sec in the preferred (Fig. 3A-C) or null (Fig.
3D-F) direction of the stimulated column (see Fig.
3A, inset). The effects on pursuit are clearly apparent in
the average velocity traces in the period immediately after the initial
saccade (Fig. 3C,F). For motion in the preferred
direction, microstimulation elicited an increase in pursuit speed of
about 5°/sec during the 20-60 msec after the initial saccade (Fig.
3C); for null direction motion, however, microstimulation
caused a decrease in pursuit speed during the equivalent interval (Fig.
3F). Saccades were affected in a qualitatively similar fashion; microstimulation on preferred direction trials caused
the saccades to terminate slightly ahead of the target, as if the
target were moving faster than it actually was (Fig. 3B).
When the target moved in the null direction, microstimulation caused
the end points of the saccades to fall behind the target, as if the
speed of the target were systematically underestimated (Fig.
3E). The animal then made secondary catch-up saccades to correct for the stimulation-induced errors on pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation within about 200 msec of the initial saccade to the target (Fig. 3B,E).
In addition to altering the speed of pursuit and saccadic
target velocity compensation, microstimulation could also alter the
direction of pursuit or saccadic target velocity
compensation. Figure 4, A and B,
shows plots of eye position in space, illustrating initial pursuit
trajectories (first 100 msec after the saccade) for about 15 stimulated
and nonstimulated trials. The pursuit target moved directly rightward,
whereas the preferred direction of the stimulated column was down and
to the right (Fig. 4A,B, arrows). Microstimulation
shifted the pursuit trajectories toward the preferred direction even
though pursuit speed was relatively unaffected for this target
direction, as is evident from the roughly equivalent trajectory lengths
for both stimulated and nonstimulated trials. Similarly, Figure
4C shows that the target velocity compensation of the
saccades shifted toward the preferred direction of the stimulated
column.
In particularly striking cases, microstimulation caused the animal to
pursue in a direction opposite to the actual direction of
target motion. In Figure 5, for example, the target
moved in the null direction of the MT column, but microstimulation
caused the initial 100 msec of pursuit after the saccade to be in the preferred direction. The eye position traces are aligned, as usual, on
target onset in Figure 5, A and B, whereas Figure
5C shows average eye speed traces aligned on saccade offset.
The "wrong way" pursuit reached a speed of approximately 7°/sec.
The saccades in this particular example were only mildly affected by
the stimulation.
Although microstimulation of MT did not seem to elicit pursuit or
saccades in the absence of a visual target, it could elicit both pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation when the visual
target appeared but remained stationary (step trials). In
the experiment shown in Figure 6, trials in which the
target stepped into the receptive field but did not move were
interleaved with step-ramp trials. On nonstimulated step trials, the
monkey made a saccade to the target and held its eyes stationary. On stimulated step trials, however, the monkey initiated pursuit that
reached a speed of about 5°/sec in the preferred direction of the
stimulated column. This pursuit was apparent both before and after the
saccade. Similarly, the saccade end points were shifted as though the
monkey saw the stimulus moving at about 10°/sec in the preferred
direction. The position (Fig. 6A,B) and velocity
(Fig. 6C) traces in this figure have been rotated so that
the preferred direction is reflected as upward, positive deflections.
Reading velocity from MT: models
As shown in the preceding figures, microstimulation in MT can
exert striking effects on the motion computations underlying pursuit
and saccadic eye movements. Careful analysis of such data can provide
insight into the algorithms used by the brain to reconcile divergent
motion signals and to compute a single velocity from activity within
the motion map in MT. As indicated previously, we considered three
possible mechanisms for producing such a velocity estimate: vector
averaging, vector summation, and winner-take-all. However, these three
mechanisms cannot be distinguished on the basis of measurements made at
one or two target velocities as in the data shown in the preceding
figures, especially if the precise direction and speed of the
electrically induced velocity signal are uncertain. Rather, it is the
pattern of results across several target velocities that
allows us to differentiate between these
mechanisms.
Figure 7 illustrates the pattern of results
predicted by each of the three models. Suppose in this
hypothetical experiment the tracking target moves at a
constant speed in one of four different directions, as indicated by the
four vectors labeled V in Figure 7A. On half of
the trials, a second motion signal, E, is introduced via
microstimulation. Predicted results of this experiment are shown in
Fig. 7, B-E, which illustrates mean vertical eye
velocity plotted against mean horizontal eye
velocity for trials with ( ) or without ( )
microstimulation. The four data points for the nonstimulated
(nostim) condition correspond to the velocities of the four
visual targets in Fig. 7A, reflecting perfect pursuit. For
the stimulated (stim) condition, the pattern of data points varies substantially for the vector sum and vector average models. If
the visual and electrical velocity signals are combined according to a
vector sum (Fig. 7B), the eye velocity observed on
stimulated trials should change by the same amount for all four visual
target velocities. If the visual and electrical signals are averaged (Fig. 7C), however, the eye velocity on the stimulated
trials should shift toward the velocity encoded by the electrical
signal, and the magnitude of this shift should be proportional to the difference between the visual and electrical velocity signals. Note
that the direction of the change in velocity should reverse around the velocity encoded by the electrical signal.
The predictions of the winner-take-all mechanism are somewhat more
complex. In this mechanism, the visual and electrically evoked
velocities are evaluated separately, and the one receiving the most
neural votes governs the monkey's behavioral response. Three different
outcomes can be obtained depending on the relative strength of the
visual and electrical signals. If the visually evoked signal is
substantially stronger, the monkey will always track the visual signal,
yielding the same pattern of results on stimulated and nonstimulated
trials (Fig. 7D). If the electrical signal is substantially
stronger, the monkey will generate the same pursuit response on every
trial regardless of the velocity of the visual target. The pursuit
response will correspond to the velocity encoded by the electrical
stimulus (Fig. 7E). If the two signals are roughly equal in
strength, the visual stimulus will win the competition and govern the
monkey's behavioral response on a proportion of the trials, whereas
the electrical signal governs behavior on the remainder. In this
eventuality, plots of mean eye velocity across trials (like
the hypothetical data illustrated in Fig. 7) will be similar for the
vector average and winner-take-all mechanisms. These two mechanisms can
be distinguished, however, by examining the distribution of
pursuit responses that contribute to each data point. A
vector-averaging mechanism will yield a unimodal distribution of
velocities centered about the mean, whereas a winner-take-all mechanism
will yield a bimodal distribution, with the two modes corresponding to
the visual and electrically evoked velocity signals.
Although we have discussed the model predictions specifically in the
context of pursuit responses, the same analyses and predictions are
applicable to the target velocity compensation metric for the saccadic
system.
Reading velocity from MT: data
Figure 8 shows an example of the most common
effect of microstimulation on pursuit (Fig. 8A) and
saccades (Fig. 8B), a pattern that strongly suggests
a vector-averaging mechanism. In this experiment, microstimulation
shifted the animal's behavior toward a downward and rightward velocity
for both pursuit and saccades. If the target moved straight down (Fig.
8A,B, e), microstimulation shifted the pursuit and
saccades up and to the right, whereas if the target moved to the right
(Fig. 8A,B, c, same data as in Fig. 4),
microstimulation shifted pursuit and saccades down and to the left.
Thus, microstimulation had the overall effect of drawing the eyes
toward a velocity of about 10-12°/sec down and to the right (Fig.
8A,B, ). We will refer to the velocity toward
which microstimulation draws the animal's behavior as the velocity
centroid. The centroids for this site lie near the downward
and rightward preferred direction of the neurons at the stimulation
site (Fig. 8A, arrow).c (The
next section will explain how centroid locations were determined.)
It is important to note that the individual points in Figure 8,
A and B, represent mean behavior
across 10-20 trials for each target velocity. Thus the data could also
be consistent with a winner-take-all mechanism if the individual data
points were distributed bimodally (see preceding section). The
winner-take-all interpretation is eliminated, however, by examination
of the individual responses. Figure 8, C and D,
show the individual responses for three of the target velocities
(a, b, f). The stimulated trials form a unimodal
distribution that is shifted toward the centroid. Individual trials do
not form clusters around the target and centroid velocities, as would
have been expected under the bimodal distribution of a winner-take-all
mechanism. We never observed a plainly bimodal distribution of
responses, and we therefore conclude that a winner-take-all mechanism
does not operate for either pursuit initiation or saccadic target
velocity compensation under the conditions tested in our experiments. A
statistical analysis of the distribution of responses will be described
in detail in the next section and Appendix.
Although most experiments exhibited a pattern of effects resembling
vector averaging, a few produced a pattern more consistent with vector
summation. Figure 9 illustrates two examples from different microstimulation sites, one for pursuit (Fig. 9A)
and one for saccades (Fig. 9B). In the experiment of Figure
9A, a rightward and slightly downward component was added to
the pursuit response for most of the conditions tested. The direction
of the microstimulation effect does not reverse within the range of
velocity space tested, and there is no apparent point of convergence of the electrically evoked changes in pursuit velocity. If these data are
to be explained by a vector-averaging model, the microstimulation signal must encode an exceptionally high velocity lying well outside the range tested, perhaps on the order of 100°/sec or more. The data
are best accounted for by the addition of a single electrically evoked
vector to each visual stimulus.
Similarly, the saccadic target velocity compensation data in Figure
9B seem to reflect the addition of an upward motion vector to each visual signal. Although these data are somewhat less consistent across conditions than those in Figure 9A, there is no
indication of a reversal in the direction of the stimulation effects,
or even a point of convergence for the stimulation effects, within the
large region of velocity space tested.
The direction of the microstimulation effect did not correspond to the
preferred direction of the site in MT (arrows) for either of
the experiments shown in Figure 9. In general, shifts in the null
direction were surprisingly common for pursuit, although rare for
saccadic target velocity compensation. We will analyze the
correspondence between the preferred direction and the direction of the
microstimulation effects in detail below.
Regression analysis for characterizing
microstimulation effects
To characterize the microstimulation effects in an objective and
quantitative fashion, we fit the data for all target velocities within
a given experiment with a multivariate regression of the following
form:
|
(1)
|
where ns (a vector) is
the pursuit velocity or saccadic target velocity compensation on
nonstimulated trials,  (also a vector) is the
change in velocity induced by microstimulation on matched trials,
is a vector constant, and g is a scalar
gain term.  was calculated from pairs of
nonstimulated and stimulated trials for the same target velocity, matched in the order the trials were conducted. The derivation of this
equation is explained in detail in Appendix.
This regression model was chosen because it can fit both vector
averaging and vector summation patterns of effects (see Appendix). The
gain term g in the model is an indication of which type of pattern is exhibited by an individual experiment; vector summation patterns have gain terms close to 0, because the change in velocity caused by the microstimulation is basically a constant regardless of
the velocity of the visual target (Fig. 7B). In contrast,
the change in velocity for vector-averaging patterns depends critically on the velocity of the target (Fig. 7C), so the value of
g lies between 0 and 1. For a vector-averaging mechanism,
the exact value of g corresponds to the relative weight of
the microstimulation-induced velocity signal compared with the visual
velocity signal. A gain of 0.5 corresponds to equal weights for the
microstimulation and visual signals; higher values indicate that the
electrical signal dominated, whereas lower values indicate that the
visual signal dominated.
The regression model can also be used to calculate the position of the
centroid in velocity space toward which microstimulation draws the
monkey's behavioral responses. This is the nonstimulated velocity for
which microstimulation yields no change in eye velocity: Setting
 in Equation 1 to 0 and solving for
, we obtain:
|
(2)
|
For vector averaging, this velocity corresponds to the presumed
velocity signal induced by microstimulation alone. For vector summation, the magnitude of this velocity vector, or the speed, should
approach infinity, because g will be very small, but the vector will nevertheless have a meaningful direction.
Finally, the regression model provides tests of statistical
significance for the microstimulation effects. Because g is
a parameter that depends on which hypothesis is correct, we could not
use tests of statistical significance that depend solely on this
parameter (as does the correlation coefficient, for example). Instead,
we tested whether the constant term was significantly different from 0 at the p < 0.05 level. Tests for significance of the
regression terms are described in detail in Appendix.
Based on the statistical significance of the constant, we found that
microstimulation affected smooth pursuit eye movements in 50.0% (61 of
122) and saccades in 59.0% (72 of 122) of the experiments (Table
1). These experiments were classified as showing directional effects. Both pursuit and saccades showed
directional effects in 44 experiments (36.1%). In addition to the
experiments with directional effects, there were other experiments in
which microstimulation caused a slowing of pursuit and/or saccadic
target velocity compensation for targets moving in all directions and speeds. The constant terms (and hence the centroids) of such
experiments occurred at a velocity that did not differ significantly
from 0, but the gain terms were found to be significantly different from 0 [n = 47 of 122 (38.5%) for pursuit and 41 of
122 (33.6%) for saccades] when a similar test for significance
(p < 0.05) was applied to this term. This type
of effect has been reported by Komatsu and Wurtz (1988) in a previous
study on the effects of microstimulation in MT on pursuit. This pattern
is similar to the results of focal lesions in MT (Newsome et al., 1985 )
and may indicate that microstimulation impaired motion processing instead of injecting a systematic motion signal. For this reason, we
excluded these experiments from the analyses described in succeeding sections, but we will consider this type of result further in Discussion.
Figure 10, A and B, shows the
distribution of gain terms for the experiments in which the constants
differed from 0. For both pursuit and saccades, nearly all experiments
had gain terms (g) that fell along a continuum
between 0 and 1. For the bulk of the experiments, the gain terms were
significantly different from 0 (Fig. 10, open regions). We
classified these experiments as showing a vector-averaging pattern
(Table 1). In a subset of the experiments, the gain terms did not
differ significantly from 0 (Fig. 10, filled regions), and
these experiments were classified as showing a vector summation pattern
(pursuit, n = 6; saccade, n = 2).
Fig. 10.
Frequency histograms of gain terms from the
multivariate regression for pursuit (A) and saccadic
target velocity compensation (B). Only experiments in
which the constant terms differed significantly from 0 are included
(n = 61 of 122 for pursuit, 72 of 122 for saccades). The filled regions of the bars indicate the
experiments in which gain terms did not differ significantly from
0.
[View Larger Version of this Image (27K GIF file)]
We conducted an additional statistical analysis on the experiments
purportedly showing a vector-averaging pattern to ascertain whether any
of these experiments might in fact have the bimodal distributions of
responses indicative of a winner-take-all pattern. For each individual
experiment, we compared the actual distribution of responses on
stimulated trials with a unimodal distribution generated by
transforming the nonstimulated trials, as described in Appendix. In no
case could the unimodal distribution be rejected at the
p < 0.05 level ( 2: pursuit, 0 of
41 tested; saccades, 0 of 50 tested).
Comparison of electrically evoked velocity signals to
unit properties
In two of the experiments shown thus far, microstimulation shifted
pursuit or saccadic target velocity compensation toward the
null direction of the stimulation site rather than the
preferred direction (Fig. 9). This was a surprisingly common occurrence for pursuit but relatively rare for saccadic target velocity
compensation. Using the multivariate regression described above, we
determined the centroid in velocity space that represented the effect
of microstimulation for each experiment. Figure 11
shows a polar frequency histogram of the direction of these centroids
with respect to the preferred direction. For pursuit, the centroids
were likely to lie along the preferred-null axis but could occur in
either the preferred or null direction (Fig. 11A).
For saccades, the centroids were more strongly biased toward the
preferred direction rather than the null direction but were less
tightly clustered around the preferred direction itself (Fig.
11C). To control for the possibility that the bias of the
pursuit effects to the preferred-null axis was related simply to a
disproportionate use of targets moving along that axis, we examined
separately the experiments that included targets moving in the
orthogonal directions as well (Fig. 11B,D). Both the
tendency of pursuit centroids to lie along the preferred null axis and
the tendency of saccade target velocity compensation centroids to lie
in the preferred direction were maintained in this subset, suggesting
that these trends were not artifacts of the limited range of directions
used in some experiments.
Fig. 11.
Polar frequency histograms of the distribution of
the velocity centroids with respect to the preferred and null
directions of the microstimulation sites. To construct each histogram,
the preferred direction and velocity centroid for each site were
rotated so that the preferred direction lay to the right at a direction of 0°. Thus, each bin represents the percentage of experiments in
which the preferred direction and the direction of the velocity centroid differed by a given range of angles. The radial labels of the
histograms indicate the percentage of sites in each bin. Only sites
with directional effects (the constant terms of the multivariate
regression differed significantly from 0) are included. A, Pursuit
velocity centroids for all such experiments (n = 61 directional effects of 122 total experiments). B, Only
the subset of experiments in which at least two target velocities that
did not lie along the preferred-null axis were included
(n = 28 directional effects of 55 experiments with
off-axis target velocities; data from both monkeys). C,
D, Corresponding data for saccadic target velocity compensation
(C, n = 72 of 122; D,
n = 37 of 55).
[View Larger Version of this Image (27K GIF file)]
As mentioned in Materials and Methods, we measured the speed-tuning
properties of the cells at the electrode tip before some microstimulation experiments. The speed of the electrically induced velocity signal was uncorrelated with the best speed of the site. We
also categorized sites according to whether the cells preferred low
(<15°/sec; n = 32) or higher (>20°/sec;
n = 33) speeds. We found no difference in the frequency
of occurrence of significant effects on either pursuit or saccades as a
function of the speed-tuning properties of the site, nor was there any
difference in the type of effect; the mean value of the gain term did
not differ significantly as a function of the speed tuning. The lack of
correlation of microstimulation effects with the speed-tuning
properties of the stimulation site is perhaps not surprising, given
that topographical organization for speed tuning has not been
demonstrated in MT.
Comparison of effects on pursuit and saccades
In the data presented in many of the preceding figures (Figs. 3,
4, 6, 8), microstimulation affected pursuit and saccades in a
qualitatively similar fashion within individual experiments. When
microstimulation affected both pursuit and saccades (n = 44 of 122 experiments), we could compare the directionality of those
effects using the centroids calculated from the regression analysis.
The directions of the centroids for pursuit and saccadic target
velocity compensation were correlated across the whole population of
experiments (Fig. 12A), with the vast
majority of the experiments having centroids for pursuit and saccades
that were within 90° of each other. This correlation in the
directions of the centroids for saccades and pursuit is about as tight
as could be expected, given the fact that the pursuit centroids were best correlated with the preferred-null axis but the saccade centroids were best correlated with the preferred direction (Fig. 11). In general, the type of pattern (vector summation vs vector averaging) was
similar for both pursuit and saccades within a given experiment. Figure
12B shows that the gain values (g)
for pursuit and saccades were correlated with one another, although
there was a fair amount of scatter around the regression line
(r = 0.76).
Fig. 12.
Comparison of the effects of microstimulation on
pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation in the subset of
experiments in which microstimulation produced directional effects on
both saccades and pursuit (constant terms differed from 0 for both; n = 44 of 122). A, Polar frequency
histogram of the difference in direction between the pursuit velocity
centroid and saccadic target velocity compensation centroid.
B, Relationship between the gain terms of the
multivariate regression model for pursuit and saccadic target velocity
compensation. Only experiments in which the multivariate regression
constant terms were significantly different from 0 for both pursuit and
saccadic target velocity compensation are included.
r = 0.76 between the saccade and pursuit gain
terms.
[View Larger Version of this Image (20K GIF file)]
Nevertheless, in individual experiments the effects of microstimulation
on pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation could differ
strikingly (Fig. 13). For the experiment shown in Figure 13, A and B, microstimulation caused a
vector-averaging pattern on both pursuit and saccadic target velocity
compensation, but the locations of the centroids differed
substantially. Microstimulation shifted the pursuit toward a centroid
velocity of about 8°/sec in the null direction, whereas it shifted
saccade target velocity compensation toward a centroid velocity of
approximately 12°/sec in the preferred direction. Not only could the
centroid velocities differ, but so could the basic pattern of effects;
in the experiment shown in Figure 13, C and D,
microstimulation caused a vector summation pattern on pursuit (same
data as in Fig. 9A) but a vector-averaging pattern on
saccadic target velocity compensation. Again, the directions of the
effects differed as well; pursuit velocity was shifted to the right,
whereas saccades were shifted toward an upward and leftward centroid
velocity.
Does microstimulation mimic a position or a velocity signal?
In the experiments showing directional effects, microstimulation
seemed to inject a velocity signal into MT. In theory, however, the
signal might contain a position component in addition to velocity. For
example, slight differences between the retinotopic locus of
microstimulation and the actual position of the target might shift the
end points of saccades or even affect the velocity of pursuit. In a few
experiments, we tested this possibility by varying from trial to trial
the starting location of targets with the same velocity. If
microstimulation provided a position signal to the saccadic or pursuit
systems, the direction or speed of the effect should vary as a function
of the position of the target. Figure 14 shows an
experiment in which the targets appeared either at the center of the
receptive field (solid lines) or offset from the center by
2.75° so that the trajectory of the target crossed the center after
about 110 msec (dotted lines). Microstimulation affected
pursuit and saccades similarly regardless of the starting position of
the target. In 11 of the 13 experiments for which we conducted this
control, the directions of the saccade target velocity compensation
centroids for both starting locations were within ±45° of one
another; pursuit centroids were similarly aligned in 8 of the 13 experiments. Thus for both saccadic target velocity compensation and
pursuit, the effects tended to be similar for both starting
locations.
Effects of microstimulation on reaction times
Microstimulation could also alter the latency of saccades to the
target (e.g., Fig. 6). The latency could be either shortened or
lengthened. Often, effects on saccade latency occurred for some target
velocities and not for others, varying with both the speed and the
direction of target motion. These changes in saccade latency had no
detectable effect on saccadic target velocity compensation or on the
direction of pursuit. Our measurement of the speed of pursuit may have
been affected in some cases, however. Because we measured pursuit
during a window after the saccade to the target, a reduction in saccade
latency would shift the pursuit window earlier with respect to target
onset, whereas an increase in saccade latency would shift the pursuit
window later. Because pursuit accelerates to its full speed over time,
these latency changes could alter our measurement of pursuit speed. To
control for this possibility, we repeated the population analyses shown
in Figures 10, 11, 12 on the subset of experiments with little or no
effects of microstimulation on saccade latency, excluding 42 experiments in which the reaction time was affected by ±40 msec for at
least one target velocity. The frequency of significant effects, the correlation of the centroids with the preferred direction of the stimulation site, and the distribution of the gain terms in this subset
were very similar to the results for the whole data set. We conclude
that although the effects on saccade latency may have influenced our
pursuit measurements for particular target velocities in individual
experiments, they had little or no impact on our results as a
whole.
DISCUSSION
Overview of microstimulation effects
Electrical microstimulation alters neural activity in a
fashion that would not occur under normal physiological conditions. A
rigid object at a particular location in space would normally have a
unique velocity, and MT neurons responding to that object would
represent only that single velocity vector. To differentiate between
several potential neural algorithms for reading out this velocity code,
we used microstimulation in an attempt to insert a second velocity
vector into MT simultaneously with a visually evoked vector.
In about half of our experiments, microstimulation did seem to inject a
nonzero velocity signal (directional effects). These experiments permit
comparison with the predicted results of the vector-averaging, vector
summation, and winner-take-all hypotheses. The pattern of
stimulation-induced errors in the overwhelming majority of these
experiments suggests that the pursuit and saccadic target velocity
compensation pathways use a vector-averaging algorithm for extracting a
single velocity signal from the distributed code for velocity in MT.
Eye movements were generally biased toward a centroid in velocity space
that presumably corresponds to the motion vector introduced by
microstimulation. Indeed, pursuit could even be generated on trials in
which the visual target was actually stationary, a finding that is
particularly striking because pursuit eye movements are primarily
elicited only in response to visual motion (Robinson, 1981 ).
A vector-averaging algorithm is quite sensible given a natural world in
which objects appearing at a single retinotopic location generally have
only one velocity. Computing a vector average of the preferred velocity
vectors of neurons with receptive fields at the same position in space
provides a rapid, accurate measurement of the velocity of an individual
moving stimulus. In addition, vector averaging can provide an accurate
measure of the aggregate velocity of nonrigid objects or objects that
are simultaneously rotating and translating. Vector averaging has been
reported in other contexts as well. A wide variety of studies have
found evidence for vector averaging in the saccadic system using both
physiological and behavioral techniques (Robinson and Fuchs, 1969 ;
Robinson, 1972 ; Becker and Jurgens, 1979 ; Schiller et al., 1979 ;
Findlay, 1982 ; Schiller and Sandell, 1983 ; du Lac and Knudsen, 1987 ;
Lee et al., 1988 ; du Lac, 1989 ; van Opstal and van Gisbergen, 1990 ; McIlwain, 1991 ; Glimcher, 1993 ). Recently, Lisberger and Ferrera (1996)
have examined the pursuit responses of monkeys when two moving visual
targets are presented. They found evidence for both vector averaging
(Lisberger and Ferrera, 1996 ) and winner-take-all mechanisms (Ferrera
and Lisberger, 1995 ) depending on the conditions of the task.
In a small percentage of the experiments, the pattern of
stimulation-induced errors was indicative of vector summation. These effects could perhaps emerge from a vector-averaging mechanism if the
speed of the electrically induced velocity vector were very
high compared with the range of speeds of our visual-tracking targets.
The average of two vectors with greatly disparate amplitudes will vary
little, with modest changes in the small vector, leading to a result
resembling vector summation. We can neither firmly support nor refute
this hypothesis, however, because the apparent speed of the
electrically induced velocity vector was typically uncorrelated with
our measurements of speed tuning at a stimulation site.
In an additional third of our experiments, microstimulation caused a
slowing of pursuit or saccadic target velocity compensation regardless
of the velocity of the target. Nonspecific slowing of this nature has
been observed previously after focal lesions of MT (Newsome et al.,
1985 ) and during microstimulation of MT with higher currents (100 µA)
than those used in our study (Komatsu and Wurtz, 1988 ). In
microstimulation experiments, the most likely explanation for this
effect is that the stimulating current spreads to columns representing
multiple directions of motion, resulting in activation of neurons
coding many different velocities. In the extreme, of course, a vector
average of all possible velocity vectors should simply be 0. Consistent
with this idea, the directional specificity of the effects of MT
microstimulation on psychophysical motion judgments decreases with
increasing current levels (Murasugi et al., 1993 ).
These different types of behavioral effects vector averaging, vector
summation, and general slowing form a continuum that we have parsed
using reasonable but somewhat arbitrary statistical conventions. The
variability in our data are not surprising. The effects of stimulating
current on a patch of cortex are likely to be complex and can differ
from site to site because of variations in electrode placement with
respect to the laminar and columnar architecture of MT. Furthermore,
the electrically evoked signal may not always be independent of the
visually evoked signal, as assumed in our model. Nonlinear interactions
are possible, particularly in the case when the visual stimulus excites
the same column to which electrical stimulation is applied (i.e., when
the visual stimulus moves at the preferred velocity of the stimulation
site). In this situation, microstimulation could interfere with or
replace the visually evoked velocity signals, causing anomalies in the stimulation effects for target velocities near the preferred velocity. A fine-grained analysis involving a more thorough sampling of target
velocity space would be necessary to test this possibility carefully.
Comparison of pursuit and saccadic target
velocity compensation
Extrastriate area MT is highly specialized for analyzing visual
motion information (Dubner and Zeki, 1971 ; Zeki, 1974 ; Maunsell and Van
Essen, 1983 ; Albright, 1984 ), raising the prospect that MT could serve
as a common source of motion signals for any effector system in need of
such information. Our experiments allowed us to assess this conjecture
simultaneously for two different, albeit related, motor systems: smooth
pursuit and saccadic eye movements. Consistent with the hypothesis,
microstimulation could affect both pursuit and saccadic target velocity
compensation, and these effects tended to be correlated; in most
experiments the pursuit and saccadic systems seemed to receive similar
velocity estimates from MT (Fig. 12).
The fact that in some experiments the effects were strikingly
different, with pursuit velocity and saccadic target velocity compensation shifted in opposite directions, provides an interesting insight into the neural pathways that must conduct these motion signals
(also see Keller et al., 1996 ). In principle, the saccadic system could
sample the MT velocity representation independently of the pursuit
system, or it could obtain velocity information from a copy of the
pursuit command, derived from somewhere along the pursuit pathway. In
either case, under normal viewing conditions the pursuit and saccadic
systems would receive substantially the same velocity signal. However,
if the saccade system only had access to a copy of the
pursuit command, then stimulating MT should always produce the same
effect on saccadic target velocity compensation and pursuit. Because
the effects on pursuit and saccades sometimes differed in our
experiments, the saccadic system probably obtains its own velocity
signal either directly from MT or perhaps indirectly from MST. That the
saccadic system may receive a copy of the pursuit command in addition
remains a possibility.
Relationship between physiological properties and
microstimulation effects
For the experiments showing directional effects, the velocity
centroids for both pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation were correlated with the motion-tuning properties of the
microstimulation site, albeit in somewhat different ways (Fig. 11). The
velocity centroids for saccadic target velocity compensation were
correlated with the preferred direction of the microstimulation site.
Surprisingly, however, the pursuit velocity centroids were better
correlated with the preferred-null axis than with the preferred
direction.
Potential explanations for this preferred-null axis correlation exist,
although none account for the difference between pursuit and saccadic
target velocity compensation. Perhaps the most plausible possibility is
that MT stimulation might frequently activate columns with the opposite
preferred direction, because columns with opposing preferred directions
tend to lie next to one another (Albright et al., 1984 ; Malonek et al.,
1994 ). Alternatively, microstimulation might actually reduce
output from the stimulated column if inhibitory neurons are activated
preferentially (E. DeYoe, personal communication), causing a shift in
pursuit velocity toward the null direction. Yet a third possibility is
that MT stimulation might impart preferred direction motion to the
visual background (the dim video screen surrounding the pursuit
target), potentially inducing an apparent motion of the pursuit target
in the null direction (Duncker, 1929 ). All such explanations stumble,
however, on the fact that the same predictions should apply to the
saccadic system as well.
Is the readout mechanism task-dependent?
Our results confirm that MT supplies motion signals to both the
pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation systems (Newsome et
al., 1985 ; Komatsu and Wurtz, 1988 ; Schiller and Lee, 1994 ), and
previous work from this laboratory has shown that MT provides motion
signals for perceptual judgments as well (Newsome and Paré, 1988 ;
Salzman et al., 1990 , 1992 ; Salzman and Newsome, 1994 ; Britten et al.,
1996 ). However, the algorithms used for reading the motion map in MT
differ strikingly in these two sets of experiments. Salzman and Newsome
(1994) trained monkeys to perform an eight-alternative, forced choice
direction discrimination task in which the monkeys indicated their
judgments by making an eye movement to one of eight targets
corresponding to the eight possible directions of stimulus motion. When
MT was microstimulated in this task, the monkeys tended to choose
either the actual direction of motion of the stimulus or the
preferred direction of motion of the stimulation site, rather than
directions intermediate between the two. This pattern of results, then,
was consistent with a winner-take-all mechanism rather than a
vector-averaging mechanism.
Thus the distributed velocity map in MT seems to be read out according
to different algorithms depending on the nature of the behavioral task.
A possible explanation for these differences is that requirements
differ depending on the type of behavioral response used.
Winner-take-all mechanisms permit the segregation of distinct motion
signals and may therefore be most appropriate for complex perceptual
contexts in which different moving patterns abut or overlap each other
in space. Requirements differ for other types of behavioral responses,
however. Because pursuit and saccadic eye movements must be made very
quickly (within a few hundred milliseconds) and to only one target at a
time, the oculomotor system may simply average motion information in
local regions of space to obtain a rapid "best guess" concerning
the direction to be tracked.
Because these different algorithms are optimized for different
purposes, it is likely that behavioral systems actually use a
combination of methods for reading MT. For example, vector averaging of
motion signals for pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation probably only occurs within a circumscribed region of space. A winner-take-all mechanism may select the region of space from which
motion signals will be used to guide these motor responses. Even for
perceptual decisions the algorithm may depend on the precise details of
the task; the winner-take-all results of Salzman and Newsome (1994) may
relate in part to the fact that monkeys were asked to make discrete
categorical judgments of motion direction. A vector-averaging scheme
might predominate in a perceptual task that instead required fast,
veridical estimates of target motion, such as those revealed by pursuit
responses. Experiments are currently under way to resolve these
issues.
FOOTNOTES
Received Feb. 18, 1997; revised March 14, 1997; accepted March 14, 1997.
This work was supported in part by the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation
(J.M.G.), the Klingenstein Foundation (R.T.B.), and National Eye
Institute Grants EY-05606 (W.T.N.) and K11EY00320 (R.T.B.). We thank
Leo Sugrue and Judith Stein for expert technical assistance. We have
benefited from discussions with Greg DeAngelis, Greg Horwitz, Stephen
Lisberger, James Nichols, Eyal Seidemann, Michael Shadlen, and Leo
Sugrue.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Jennifer M. Groh, Department
of Neurobiology, Sherman Fairchild Building, D209, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA 94305.
Dr. Born's current address: Department of Neurobiology, Harvard
Medical School, 220 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.
aAs part of a related study on the functional
architecture of MT (Born et al., 1995 ), we sometimes stimulated at two
or more locations within a stretch of directionally selective neurons in one monkey. Previous studies have shown that the size of effects can
vary substantially with very small movements of the stimulating electrode (Murasugi et al., 1993 ). For assembling the present database,
we selected the single stimulation site with the largest effects from
these sequences and omitted any other stimulation sites that were
within 200 µm. Such culling was performed post hoc,
because we were not able to analyze the results of stimulation on-line
during the experiments. Because of this culling, our estimates of the
proportion of sites in MT where microstimulation is effective may be
somewhat inflated. However, the frequency and pattern of the results
were similar in the second monkey, in which only a single stimulation
experiment was usually conducted within a direction column, suggesting
that this culling did not have a strong impact on our results.
bThese previous studies have raised the issue
of how late during the reaction time interval target
position signals are available to the saccadic system
and have used the term velocity compensation or
velocity prediction to refer only to the adjustment of
the saccade end point based on extrapolation from the last known
position of the target. Because in the current study we are comparing
stimulated and nonstimulated trials with identical target motions, we
can remain agnostic on this issue, and for the sake of simplicity we
calculate velocity compensation based on the entire reaction time
interval.
cNotice that the effects of stimulation on saccades can
correspond to either overshoot or undershoot depending on the direction of the saccade, the velocity of the centroid, and the velocity of the
target. This is perhaps best appreciated by considering the pattern of
microstimulation effects shown in Figure 8B. The receptive field at this stimulation site was down and to the left (inset), so all saccades had an overall downward and
leftward direction, because all targets were roughly at the center of
the receptive field at the time of the saccade. Because the centroid velocity was down and to the right, the stimulation-induced changes in
saccadic target velocity compensation contain a component of saccadic
overshoot for targets b and c and saccadic undershoot for targets e and
f and correspond primarily to a change in saccade direction for targets
a, g, and d.
APPENDIX
Regression analysis
The regression equation used to model the microstimulation results
was chosen because it can fit the predicted results for all three
hypotheses. The derivation of this equation is described below, first
in the context of vector averaging or winner-take-all, and then for
vector summation.
Let ns equal the velocity of
the animal's behavior (pursuit or saccadic target velocity
compensation) on nonstimulated trials,
s equal the velocity of the
animal's behavior on stimulated trials, and
e equal the value of the
electrically induced velocity signal (an unknown).
ns corresponds to the velocity of the
visual target but generally does not precisely equal target velocity,
because pursuit and saccadic target velocity compensation are not
perfectly accurate even on nonstimulated trials.
If a weighted vector average determined the animal's behavior on
stimulated trials, then:
|
(3)
|
where g is a scalar weighting factor between 0 and 1 that indicates the relative contributions of the electrical and visual velocity signals. Note that the same equation could also model the
results under winner-take-all, in which case g corresponds to the probability that a trial would be "won" by the electrical velocity signal.
For convenience, this equation can be solved for  ,
where:
|
(4)
|
yielding:
|
(5)
|
Because g and
e are both unknowns, we can
replace them with a single constant vector, , or:
|
(6)
|
yielding the regression equation that we fit to the data for each
stimulation site. The constant corresponds to the
regression estimate for the velocity on stimulated trials with a
stationary visual target (step trials,
ns = 0).
An estimate of the value of the electrically induced velocity signal,
e, can be also be
recovered from this equation. When the visual and electrical velocity
signals are equal, the vector average of the two is identical to the
visual velocity signal alone, and no change in velocity is produced by the microstimulation. Setting  in Equation 6 to 0 and solving for ns, we
obtain:
|
(7)
|
Equation 6 can also fit the pattern of effects predicted by a
vector summation pattern. For vector summation, the change in velocity
induced by the stimulation is a constant vector. This can be seen from
the vector summation equivalent to Equation 3, which is:
|
(8)
|
where, a is a sealar weighting factor that is not
constrained to any particular range. Once again substituting a single
constant, , for
a e and solving for
 we have:
|
(9)
|
This equation is identical to Equation 6 when the value of
g is 0. Thus, a value of 0 for g serves as an
indication of a vector summation pattern. Such patterns are
distinguishable from vector averaging patterns in which the weight of
the electrical signal is simply very low by the fact that the constant
term, , should be significantly different from 0 for
vector summation but not for a vector-averaging pattern in which the electrical signal is very weak. An estimate of the exact value of the
electrically induced velocity signal is not possible for vector
summation patterns, because the magnitude of this velocity vector
cannot be distinguished from the weighting term a in
Equation 8. However, the direction of the electrically induced velocity signal will be apparent from the direction of the constant term, , in Equation 9.
For each experimental site, we tested whether the constant,
, and/or gain, g, were significantly
different from 0 at the p < 0.05 level using the
likelihood ratio:
|
(10)
|
where and 0 are the maximum likelihood
estimates of the variance-covariance matrix of the regression model
with and without the parameter of interest, respectively (Finn, 1974 ).
The likelihood ratio, , can then be converted to a
2 distribution (adapted from Bartlett, 1947 ;
Finn, 1974 ) by:
|
(11)
|
where n is the number of data points, and
q is a correction factor related to the number of variables
included in the full and reduced models [q = 3 for
testing the significance of the constant, and q = 2.75 for testing the significance of the gain term (see Finn, 1974 ); because
n q, this correction factor has negligible
impact]. The degrees of freedom are equal to the number and dimensions
of the parameters being tested. Because the constant term
is a vector, it accounts for 2 df, whereas the gain
term g accounts for 1 df.
Note that if neither nor g is
statistically significant, this indicates that the microstimulation had
no effect, and the three hypotheses cannot be distinguished from one
another.
Statistical analysis of distribution of stimulated trials
We conducted an additional statistical analysis to determine
whether any experiments showed the bimodal distribution of responses predicted by the winner-take-all hypothesis. For each site, we compared
the actual distribution of responses on stimulated trials with a
unimodal distribution generated from the nonstimulated trials but
having the same mean as the stimulated trials. For simplicity and
statistical power, all data from a given experiment were transformed
and normalized as described below to permit an analysis in one
dimension.
For each target velocity at each stimulation site, the population of
individual nonstimulated trials was first centered at 0 by subtracting
their mean location. This mean was also subtracted from the centroid
location and from the stimulated trials for that target velocity. Then,
individual stimulated and nonstimulated trials were projected onto the
axis containing the centroid, and their distance from 0 was normalized
by the distance of the centroid. The result of these operations is that
for each target velocity, the nonstimulated trials were centered at 0 and the centroid lay at a value of 1. These transformations permitted
the pooling of data from different target velocities within an
individual experiment. The expected unimodal distribution corresponding
to vector averaging was generated by shifting all the nonstimulated
data points by the mean location of the stimulated trials for each
target velocity.
How well the unimodal distribution described the actual data was
assessed by generating histograms for the unimodal and actual distributions and calculating the observed and expected values in each
bin. A 2 value was calculated by computing:
|
(12)
|
with n q 1 df, where
n is the number of bins in the histogram, and q
is the number of parameters estimated in the process of generating the
expected distribution. The value of q in this case is 3, the
means of the stimulated and nonstimulated trials, and the centroid
(Larsen and Marx, 1986 ). If the 2 value was
sufficiently small (< 20.95,n q 1), the null hypothesis that the data could be
described by a unimodal distribution was accepted
(p > 0.05).
This test was conducted only on experiments in which both the constant
and the gain terms of the regression were significantly different from
0. Within each experiment, we excluded data from target velocities in
which the mean response velocity for the nonstimulated trials was less
than 2 SD away from the centroid velocity. For these target velocities,
any potential bimodality in the distribution of response velocities on
stimulated trials would be obscured, because the mode corresponding to
the visual signal "winning" would be too close to the mode for the
electrical signal winning. Only experiments with enough trials to
generate reasonable histograms with at least five bins (generally more than 50 stimulated and nonstimulated trials each) were included. Forty-one experiments met these criteria for pursuit, 50 for
saccades.
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C. R. Cassanello, A. T. Nihalani, and V. P. Ferrera
Neuronal Responses to Moving Targets in Monkey Frontal Eye Fields
J Neurophysiol,
September 1, 2008;
100(3):
1544 - 1556.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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B. Kim and M. A. Basso
Saccade Target Selection in the Superior Colliculus: A Signal Detection Theory Approach
J. Neurosci.,
March 19, 2008;
28(12):
2991 - 3007.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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G. A. Orban
Higher Order Visual Processing in Macaque Extrastriate Cortex
Physiol Rev,
January 1, 2008;
88(1):
59 - 89.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. Spering and K. R. Gegenfurtner
Contrast and Assimilation in Motion Perception and Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements
J Neurophysiol,
September 1, 2007;
98(3):
1355 - 1363.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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H. Super and V. A. F. Lamme
Strength of Figure-Ground Activity in Monkey Primary Visual Cortex Predicts Saccadic Reaction Time in a Delayed Detection Task
Cereb Cortex,
June 1, 2007;
17(6):
1468 - 1475.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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L. C. Osborne, S. S. Hohl, W. Bialek, and S. G. Lisberger
Time Course of Precision in Smooth-Pursuit Eye Movements of Monkeys
J. Neurosci.,
March 14, 2007;
27(11):
2987 - 2998.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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B. S. Webb, T. Ledgeway, and P. V. McGraw
Cortical pooling algorithms for judging global motion direction
PNAS,
February 27, 2007;
104(9):
3532 - 3537.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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U. J. Ilg and S. Schumann
Primate Area MST-l Is Involved in the Generation of Goal-Directed Eye and Hand Movements
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2007;
97(1):
761 - 771.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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B. Krekelberg, R. J. A. van Wezel, and T. D. Albright
Interactions between Speed and Contrast Tuning in the Middle Temporal Area: Implications for the Neural Code for Speed.
J. Neurosci.,
August 30, 2006;
26(35):
8988 - 8998.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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T. Uka and G. C. DeAngelis
Linking neural representation to function in stereoscopic depth perception: roles of the middle temporal area in coarse versus fine disparity discrimination.
J. Neurosci.,
June 21, 2006;
26(25):
6791 - 6802.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. T. Avila, L. E. Hong, A. Moates, K. A. Turano, and G. K. Thaker
Role of Anticipation in Schizophrenia-Related Pursuit Initiation Deficits
J Neurophysiol,
February 1, 2006;
95(2):
593 - 601.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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R. T. Born, C. C. Pack, C. R. Ponce, and S. Yi
Temporal Evolution of 2-Dimensional Direction Signals Used to Guide Eye Movements
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2006;
95(1):
284 - 300.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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H. Nover, C. H. Anderson, and G. C. DeAngelis
A Logarithmic, Scale-Invariant Representation of Speed in Macaque Middle Temporal Area Accounts for Speed Discrimination Performance
J. Neurosci.,
October 26, 2005;
25(43):
10049 - 10060.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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E. S. Frechette, A. Sher, M. I. Grivich, D. Petrusca, A. M. Litke, and E. J. Chichilnisky
Fidelity of the Ensemble Code for Visual Motion in Primate Retina
J Neurophysiol,
July 1, 2005;
94(1):
119 - 135.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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S. Marti, C. J. Bockisch, and D. Straumann
Prolonged Asymmetric Smooth-Pursuit Stimulation Leads to Downbeat Nystagmus in Healthy Human Subjects
Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci.,
January 1, 2005;
46(1):
143 - 149.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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U. J. Ilg and J. Churan
Motion Perception Without Explicit Activity in Areas MT and MST
J Neurophysiol,
September 1, 2004;
92(3):
1512 - 1523.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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L. C. Osborne, W. Bialek, and S. G. Lisberger
Time Course of Information about Motion Direction in Visual Area MT of Macaque Monkeys
J. Neurosci.,
March 31, 2004;
24(13):
3210 - 3222.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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N. J. Priebe and S. G. Lisberger
Estimating Target Speed from the Population Response in Visual Area MT
J. Neurosci.,
February 25, 2004;
24(8):
1907 - 1916.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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N. L. Port and R. H. Wurtz
Sequential Activity of Simultaneously Recorded Neurons in the Superior Colliculus During Curved Saccades
J Neurophysiol,
September 1, 2003;
90(3):
1887 - 1903.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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B. J. A. Palanca and G. C. DeAngelis
Macaque Middle Temporal Neurons Signal Depth in the Absence of Motion
J. Neurosci.,
August 20, 2003;
23(20):
7647 - 7658.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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G. C. DeAngelis and T. Uka
Coding of Horizontal Disparity and Velocity by MT Neurons in the Alert Macaque
J Neurophysiol,
February 1, 2003;
89(2):
1094 - 1111.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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J. Liu and W. T. Newsome
Functional Organization of Speed Tuned Neurons in Visual Area MT
J Neurophysiol,
January 1, 2003;
89(1):
246 - 256.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. J. Nichols and W. T. Newsome
Middle Temporal Visual Area Microstimulation Influences Veridical Judgments of Motion Direction
J. Neurosci.,
November 1, 2002;
22(21):
9530 - 9540.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. Castelo-Branco, E. Formisano, W. Backes, F. Zanella, S. Neuenschwander, W. Singer, and R. Goebel
Activity patterns in human motion-sensitive areas depend on the interpretation of global motion
PNAS,
October 15, 2002;
99(21):
13914 - 13919.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. Tanaka and S. G. Lisberger
Role of Arcuate Frontal Cortex of Monkeys in Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements. II. Relation to Vector Averaging Pursuit
J Neurophysiol,
June 1, 2002;
87(6):
2700 - 2714.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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H. Tabata, K. Yamamoto, and M. Kawato
Computational Study on Monkey VOR Adaptation and Smooth Pursuit Based on the Parallel Control-Pathway Theory
J Neurophysiol,
April 1, 2002;
87(4):
2176 - 2189.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. Tanaka and S. G. Lisberger
Enhancement of Multiple Components of Pursuit Eye Movement by Microstimulation in the Arcuate Frontal Pursuit Area in Monkeys
J Neurophysiol,
February 1, 2002;
87(2):
802 - 818.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. M. Churchland and S. G. Lisberger
Shifts in the Population Response in the Middle Temporal Visual Area Parallel Perceptual and Motor Illusions Produced by Apparent Motion
J. Neurosci.,
December 1, 2001;
21(23):
9387 - 9402.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. Missal and S. J. Heinen
Facilitation of Smooth Pursuit Initiation by Electrical Stimulation in the Supplementary Eye Fields
J Neurophysiol,
November 1, 2001;
86(5):
2413 - 2425.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. M. Churchland and S. G. Lisberger
Experimental and Computational Analysis of Monkey Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements
J Neurophysiol,
August 1, 2001;
86(2):
741 - 759.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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A. Berkowitz
Rhythmicity of Spinal Neurons Activated During Each Form of Fictive Scratching in Spinal Turtles
J Neurophysiol,
August 1, 2001;
86(2):
1026 - 1036.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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J. L. Gardner and S. G. Lisberger
Linked Target Selection for Saccadic and Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements
J. Neurosci.,
March 15, 2001;
21(6):
2075 - 2084.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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V. P. Ferrera
Task-Dependent Modulation of the Sensorimotor Transformation for Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements
J Neurophysiol,
December 1, 2000;
84(6):
2725 - 2738.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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K. C. Engel, J. H. Anderson, and J. F. Soechting
Similarity in the Response of Smooth Pursuit and Manual Tracking to a Change in the Direction of Target Motion
J Neurophysiol,
September 1, 2000;
84(3):
1149 - 1156.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. M. Churchland and S. G. Lisberger
Apparent Motion Produces Multiple Deficits in Visually Guided Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements of Monkeys
J Neurophysiol,
July 1, 2000;
84(1):
216 - 235.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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R. Levi and J. M. Camhi
Wind Direction Coding in the Cockroach Escape Response: Winner Does Not Take All
J. Neurosci.,
May 15, 2000;
20(10):
3814 - 3821.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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R. Levi and J. M. Camhi
Population Vector Coding by the Giant Interneurons of the Cockroach
J. Neurosci.,
May 15, 2000;
20(10):
3822 - 3829.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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G. H. Recanzone and R. H. Wurtz
Effects of Attention on MT and MST Neuronal Activity During Pursuit Initiation
J Neurophysiol,
February 1, 2000;
83(2):
777 - 790.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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G. A. O'Driscoll, C. Benkelfat, P. S. Florencio, A.-L. V. G. Wolff, R. Joober, S. Lal, and A. C. Evans
Neural Correlates of Eye Tracking Deficits in First-degree Relatives of Schizophrenic Patients: A Positron Emission Tomography Study
Arch Gen Psychiatry,
December 1, 1999;
56(12):
1127 - 1134.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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D. Jancke, W. Erlhagen, H. R. Dinse, A. C. Akhavan, M. Giese, A. Steinhage, and G. Schoner
Parametric Population Representation of Retinal Location: Neuronal Interaction Dynamics in Cat Primary Visual Cortex
J. Neurosci.,
October 15, 1999;
19(20):
9016 - 9028.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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M. Kahlon and S. G. Lisberger
Vector Averaging Occurs Downstream from Learning in Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements of Monkeys
J. Neurosci.,
October 15, 1999;
19(20):
9039 - 9053.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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G. H. Recanzone and R. H. Wurtz
Shift in Smooth Pursuit Initiation and MT and MST Neuronal Activity Under Different Stimulus Conditions
J Neurophysiol,
October 1, 1999;
82(4):
1710 - 1727.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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S. G. Lisberger and J. A. Movshon
Visual Motion Analysis for Pursuit Eye Movements in Area MT of Macaque Monkeys
J. Neurosci.,
March 15, 1999;
19(6):
2224 - 2246.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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T. Moore, A. S. Tolias, and P. H. Schiller
Visual representations during saccadic eye movements
PNAS,
July 21, 1998;
95(15):
8981 - 8984.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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S. G. Lisberger
Postsaccadic Enhancement of Initiation of Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements in Monkeys
J Neurophysiol,
April 1, 1998;
79(4):
1918 - 1930.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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G. H. Recanzone, R. H. Wurtz, and U. Schwarz
Responses of MT and MST Neurons to One and Two Moving Objects in the Receptive Field
J Neurophysiol,
December 1, 1997;
78(6):
2904 - 2915.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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S. G. Lisberger and V. P. Ferrera
Vector Averaging for Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements Initiated by Two Moving Targets in Monkeys
J. Neurosci.,
October 1, 1997;
17(19):
7490 - 7502.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
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