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Volume 17, Number 24,
Issue of December 15, 1997
A Neural Model of Multimodal Adaptive Saccadic Eye Movement
Control by Superior Colliculus
Stephen Grossberg,
Karen Roberts,
Mario Aguilar, and
Daniel Bullock
Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems and Center for Adaptive
Systems, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
FOOTNOTES
APPENDIX
REFERENCES
ABSTRACT
How does the saccadic movement system select a target when visual,
auditory, and planned movement commands differ? How do retinal,
head-centered, and motor error coordinates interact during the
selection process? Recent data on superior colliculus (SC) reveal a
spreading wave of activation across buildup cells the peak activity of
which covaries with the current gaze error. In contrast, the locus of
peak activity remains constant at burst cells, whereas their activity
level decays with residual gaze error. A neural model answers these
questions and simulates burst and buildup responses in visual, overlap,
memory, and gap tasks. The model also simulates data on multimodal
enhancement and suppression of activity in the deeper SC layers and
suggests a functional role for NMDA receptors in this region. In
particular, the model suggests how auditory and planned saccadic target
positions become aligned and compete with visually reactive target
positions to select a movement command. For this to occur, a
transformation between auditory and planned head-centered
representations and a retinotopic target representation is learned.
Burst cells in the model generate teaching signals to the spreading
wave layer. Spreading waves are produced by corollary discharges that
render planned and visually reactive targets dimensionally consistent and enable them to compete for attention to generate a movement command
in motor error coordinates. The attentional selection process also
helps to stabilize the map-learning process. The model functionally
interprets cells in the superior colliculus, frontal eye field,
parietal cortex, mesencephalic reticular formation, paramedian pontine
reticular formation, and substantia nigra pars reticulata.
Key words:
saccades;
eye movements;
superior colliculus;
attention;
learning;
burst neurons;
buildup neurons;
parietal cortex;
frontal eye
fields;
reticular formation;
substantia nigra
INTRODUCTION
Saccades are ballistic eye movements
that facilitate the survival of an animal in a rapidly changing
environment. Saccadic eye movements include at least three types:
visually reactive, multimodal (e.g., auditorily cued), and planned.
Visually reactive saccades are reflexive movements generated by areas
of rapid visual change. Auditory saccades direct the eyes toward
acoustic stimuli. Planned saccades move the eye to intended targets;
they "direct the eye at objects selected beforehand from the visual
environment" (Becker, 1989 ). Such eye movements can be made to
targets that may or may not be visible when an eye movement begins.
The saccadic system can execute a movement to a planned target without
being distracted by irrelevant reactive targets. However, when intense
visual or auditory stimuli appear, they can take precedence over a
planned movement. How and where is the shared control between visually
reactive, auditory, and planned saccades achieved? In particular,
visual cues are registered in retinotopic coordinates, whereas auditory
cues are registered in head-centered coordinates. How are these
distinct coordinate systems merged so that a particular location can be
selected as a saccadic target? This transformation must be learned to
align the corresponding visual and auditory representations.
The present article develops a model of how these adaptive coordinate
changes take place in the deeper layers of the superior colliculus (SC)
and enable a saccadic movement target to be chosen there. The neural
circuitry that supports this learning process simulates
neurophysiological data about the burst neurons (Waitzman et al., 1991 ;
Munoz and Wurtz, 1995b ), also called T cells (Moschovakis et
al., 1988a ), and the buildup or tectoreticulospinal neurons (Munoz et
al., 1991 ; Munoz and Wurtz, 1995b ), also called X cells (Moschovakis and Karabelas, 1985 ), that exist in the deeper SC layers.
These simulations include the responses of both types of cells in
visual, overlap, memory, and gap behavioral tasks (Munoz and Wurtz,
1995a ). The model also provides a functional rationale for how
multimodal cells in these SC layers process inputs from converging
unimodal pathways and how these converging multimodal inputs yield
enhancement or suppressive effects, depending on the relative locations
of the inputs (Stein and Meredith, 1993 ). The model predicts that burst
neuron outputs act as teaching signals to buildup neurons and that
these latter cells are the postsynaptic sites of associative learning
along pathways from cortical auditory centers (Stein and Meredith,
1993 ) and the frontal eye fields (Schlag-Rey et al., 1992 ). This
hypothesis is consistent with recent evidence showing the importance of
NMDA receptors for multimodal integration in the deep layers of the cat
superior colliculus (Binns and Salt, 1996 ). The model also suggests
why, although the frontal eye fields excite SC cells that code a
similar movement and inhibit SC cells that code a different movement
(Schlag-Rey et al., 1992 ), there are additional adaptive mechanisms for
the control of planned eye movements than those that engage the SC (Schiller and Sandell, 1983 ; Segraves, 1992 ; Deubel, 1995 ). These mechanisms are modeled in Gancarz and Grossberg (1997) .
MATERIALS AND METHODS
To set the stage for these analyses, we summarize in this
section brain regions that converge onto the SC, which in turn projects to gaze control centers. Key SC neuron types are then surveyed that
influence saccadic control, and the model is introduced. In the
Results, we show how the model can control multimodal, planned, and
visually reactive saccades via a process of SC map learning. The model
functionally interprets known anatomical connections between cells in
the superior colliculus, frontal eye field, parietal cortex,
mesencephalic reticular formation, paramedian pontine reticular
formation, and substantia nigra pars reticulata. The model is then used
to simulate physiological data of SC burst and buildup neurons during a
variety of behavioral tasks and to shed light on the following types of
data.
The role of the superior colliculus in the saccadic eye movement
system. Saccades are mediated by pontine and mesencephalic burst
circuits that are usually controlled by the superior colliculus (Goldberg et al., 1991 ). The superior colliculus generates a
high-frequency burst of activity preceding saccades. The discharge of
neurons is related to changes in the eye position regardless of the
initial position of the eye in the orbit (Sparks and Mays, 1990 ). The superior colliculus contains topographic maps, and the location of
neurons in these maps codes motor error (Sparks and Mays, 1980 ; Sparks
and Nelson, 1987 ).
The deeper layers of the superior colliculus contain heterogeneous cell
sizes and an intermingling of cells and axons with a large degree of
overlap of dendritic fields (Grantyn, 1988 ). These cells are direction-
and amplitude-specific cells that contribute to populations that are
broadly tuned. The sensory properties of these cells include multimodal
responses and large receptive fields (Stein and Meredith, 1993 ). They
also exhibit rapidly habituating response to repetitive stimuli and
sensitivity to dynamic stimuli. Because the deeper layers are those
that are involved in eye movement control, the remainder of this
discussion will concentrate only on these layers of the superior
colliculus.
Many studies include data suggesting that the deeper layers of superior
colliculus are involved in the control of visually reactive, auditory,
and planned saccades (Powell and Hatton, 1969 ; Sparks and Mays, 1981 ;
Jay and Sparks, 1984 , 1987a ,b , 1990 ; Davson, 1990 ; Zambarbieri et al.,
1995 ). The deeper layers receive afferent signals from both descending
and ascending sources. The descending sources originate as ipsilateral
projections from cortical visual, auditory, and somatosensory areas
(McIlwain, 1977 ; Wurtz and Albano, 1980 ; Schlag-Rey et al., 1992 ; Stein
and Meredith, 1993 ) and signal both sensory and motor information.
Sensory afferents. By contrast with ascending visual input
to superficial SC layers, ascending projections to deeper SC layers provide a limited distribution of contralateral visual inputs from
retina, the lateral geniculate nucleus, pretectum, and superficial superior colliculus. Much heavier ascending inputs originate from contralateral auditory sources. These sources include projections from
the periolivary regions of the superior olive, the nuclei of the
trapezoidal body, the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, and, to
a lesser extent, the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus
(Edwards et al., 1979 ). The external nucleus of the inferior colliculus
is implicated in attention or arousal responses to auditory stimuli.
All of these regions, whether cortical or subcortical, provide unimodal
projections to the superior colliculus, and no examples of multisensory
projections have been reported.
Motor afferents. Motor afferents arise from numerous,
primarily ipsilateral, sources. The posterior parietal cortex
projection to the superior colliculus is primarily to the deep
intermediate layers. Cells from the lateral intraparietal area of
posterior parietal cortex fire before saccades and indicate the
intended amplitude and direction of eye movement in motor coordinates
(Gnadt and Andersen, 1988 ). Posterior parietal cortical projections are distributed in a relatively homogeneous manner, with the exception of
projections from area 7a, which possibly alternate with projections from the frontal eye fields (Huerta and Harting, 1986 ).
The cortical inputs to the superior colliculus also include heavy
descending projections from the frontal eye field. Anterograde tracing
from the frontal eye field demonstrates a predominant projection to
intermittent patches in the deep regions of the intermediate gray
layer. Physiological responses of neurons in the frontal eye field
generally exhibit pre- or postsaccadic activity (Goldberg and Bruce,
1990 ). Presaccadic activity is generated in response to visually guided
or purposive saccades, and 54% of frontal eye field neurons are
presaccadic. It is surmised (Goldberg and Bruce, 1990 ) that the frontal
eye field sends both a motor signal to the superior colliculus that
specifies the coordinates of a saccade and a fixation signal that is
involved in the maintenance and release of fixation. Via its
projections to the caudate, the frontal eye field can also influence
saccadic eye movements via the substantia nigra.
Another important structure involved in the oculomotor system is
therefore the basal ganglia that include the caudate and substantia
nigra. Most substantia nigra cells need the presence of a visual target
to pause before eye movements (Hikosaka and Wurtz, 1983b ). Some of the
cells depend on the state of fixation or presence of a memory trace to
affect their activity (Hikosaka and Wurtz, 1983b ). Heavy inputs from
substantia nigra pars reticulata directly contact the majority of
tectoreticulospinal neurons in discrete patches in the intermediate
layers of the superior colliculus (Graybiel, 1978 ).
There is no proprioceptive feedback from extraocular muscle receptors
to signal directly eye position to deeper layer neurons (Stein and
Meredith, 1993 ). It is thought that such a signal is provided by
corollary discharge from neurons extrinsic to the colliculus (Stein and
Meredith, 1993 ).
Efferents. Four efferent pathways project from the superior
colliculus. One pathway is ascending and reaches the thalamus, and one
projects to the opposite superior colliculus. The descending efferents
are involved in repositioning the eyes, head, limbs, and other
peripheral sensory organs via a contralateral and an ipsilateral
pathway. Although a majority of neurons without efferent projections
are unimodal (Meredith and Stein, 1986 ), including projections from
auditory centers (Jay and Sparks, 1984 , 1987b , 1990 ; Zambarbieri et
al., 1995 ), nearly 75% of neurons with descending efferent projections
are multisensory.
Efferent neurons of the superior colliculus convey motor commands using
widespread connections with neurons in other motor areas of the
brainstem and spinal cord (Moschovakis et al., 1988a ). Two important
classes of output cells are tectoreticular and tectoreticulospinal neurons. Tectoreticular neurons project to the predorsal bundle (PDB)
and the abducens region and have medium-sized somata that occupy the
intermediate gray layer, including the uppermost levels. Tectoreticulospinal neurons project to the abducens region and the
spinal cord and have large somata that reside only in the deeper levels
of the intermediate gray layer and below (Guitton, 1991 ).
The intermediate and deep layers of the superior colliculus project to
the brainstem, providing motor commands to the region that controls eye
movements (Sparks and Hartwich-Young, 1989 ). These brainstem regions,
which include the paramedian pontine and mesencephalic reticular
formation, in turn contain neurons that produce important components of
a saccade. Burst cells produce the pulse component of saccades, and the
prepositus nucleus and the vestibular nuclear complex are part of the
neural integrator that provides the step component. The nucleus
prepositus hypoglossi projects back to deep collicular neurons
(Stechison et al., 1985 ). The burst cells provide direct input to the
motor neurons that move the extraocular muscles (Hepp et al., 1989 ).
The gain of the saccadic system is also influenced by the cerebellum
(Goldberg et al., 1991 ).
Intrinsic neurons in the deeper layers of the superior
colliculus, bursts and spreading waves. Among the efferent neurons of the superior colliculus that convey motor commands to the brainstem and spinal cord, two distinct neural activity patterns can be found, a
burst and a buildup of activity. During saccades, the peak neural
activity in a population of saccade-related burst neurons in the
superior colliculus remains in a fixed position, and the activity level
rapidly increases immediately before eye movement. Then the activity
peak decays as a function of the remaining gaze error (Waitzman et al.,
1991 ). In a buildup or tectoreticulospinal cell population, there is a
slow buildup of activity well in advance of the saccade. During the
saccade, buildup cells exhibit a spread of activation that moves across
sites that code the current gaze error (Munoz et al., 1991 ; Guitton,
1992 ).
Intracellular staining studies of alert monkeys have been used to
identify collicular neurons with presaccadic activity during spontaneous eye movements with a fixed head (Moschovakis et al., 1988b ). Saccade-related neurons were identified as cells showing little
spontaneous activity but an intense burst of activity before spontaneous saccades (Fig. 1,
left). Morphologically, these burst neurons are T
cells defined by Moschovakis et al. (1988a) .
Fig. 1.
The neural activity of a burst cell
(left) and a buildup cell (right) during
a saccade. Each panel shows the individual rasters (top), the spike density profile
(middle), and the horizontal eye position trace
(bottom). Reprinted with permission from Munoz and Wurtz
(1995a) .
[View Larger Version of this Image (13K GIF file)]
Neurons in the colliculus that displayed activity that ceased at or
near the end of a saccade were studied by Waitzman et al. (1991) . These
cells were found to produce presaccadic discharges related to eye
movement and in some cases to the presence of a visual target. The
neuronal discharge of these cells was investigated in relation to
changes in saccade amplitude and radial velocity. The location of a
cell in the colliculus was correlated to the amplitude of the eye
movement. The level of activity of the cell encoded the difference
between the desired and current eye displacement throughout the
saccade. This difference is also known as the gaze motor error. These
burst neurons can be identified with T neurons defined by
Moschovakis et al. (1988a) .
Munoz et al. (1991) antidromically identified and studied neurons
located in the intermediate and deep layers of the superior colliculus
in alert cats. These neurons were identified as tectoreticular and
tectoreticulospinal neurons. Because of the large amplitude of the
extracellularly recorded spike and the short antidromic latencies
(implying large diameter axons), these neurons were presumed to
represent X cells described by Moschovakis and Karabelas (1985) .
Munoz et al. (1991) described the movement-related discharges of two
classes of these tectoreticulospinal neurons in the intermediate and
deep layers of the superior colliculus. Tectoreticulospinal neurons are
organized in a retinotopically coded motor map. Fixation tectoreticulospinal neurons are located within the foveal
representation of the motor map. They reduced their rate of discharge
during orienting gaze shifts and resumed their sustained discharge when the target was fixated. Orientation tectoreticulospinal neurons are
located outside of the region in the superior colliculus representing the fovea. They exhibited prolonged buildups followed by phasic motor
bursts immediately before the onset of gaze shifts in head-fixed and
head-free cats (Fig. 1, right). Their discharge rate
exhibited an increase before gaze shifts corresponding to the amplitude and direction of the preferred movement of the cell. The timing of the
burst relative to the onset of the gaze shift was shown to vary
depending on the gaze shift amplitude. Each tectoreticulospinal neuron
reached its peak discharge rate when the instantaneous gaze motor error
matched the optimal vector of the cell.
These observations suggest that the activity of tectoreticulospinal
neurons reflects the change in gaze motor error (Guitton and Munoz,
1985 ). At the start of a gaze shift, a zone of activity was established
at the collicular locus encoding the desired gaze displacement. As the
gaze shift proceeded, this zone of activation moved continuously across
the superior colliculus motor map to form a spreading wave of
activation that moves toward the rostral pole in such a way that the
location of its forward edge covaries with the remaining gaze motor
error. As the gaze shift terminated, the fixation tectoreticulospinal
neurons at the rostral pole became active.
Munoz and Wurtz (1993) characterized the discharge pattern of fixation
cells. During saccades, the tonically active fixation cells showed a
pause in their rate of firing. This pause always began before the onset
of a saccade, and the cell resumed firing before the end of
contraversive saccades.
A model of multimodal adaptive saccadic control. The neural
model presented in this section, which was first reported in Roberts et
al. (1994) , simulates one of the core processes that is proposed to
control how visually reactive, auditory, and planned saccades are
calibrated and coordinated. In so doing, the model gives a functional
explanation for both the peak decay and wave-like activity patterns
exhibited by burst and buildup cells, respectively. It also explains
why buildup, but not burst, cells show activation well in advance of
planned saccades.
The model proposes the following neural mechanisms. Early in
development, visual cues trigger saccades via a visually reactive saccadic system. These reactive movements are not necessarily accurate
at first. The model proposes that visual error signals are caused by
inaccurate foveations and trigger a learning process through which
movement gains change adaptively until accurate foveations of visually
reactive movements are achieved (Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 ,
Chapter 3). These visual error signals are registered in retinotopic
coordinates and are converted into motor error signals before this
learning process occurs in the cerebellum (see below). The accuracy of
auditory and planned saccades is assumed to build on the gains learned
by the visually reactive system. For this to occur, a transformation
between a head-centered and a motor error target representation needs
to be learned. Recent data (Gilmore and Johnson, 1997 ) suggest that
this process is complete by 6 months in human infants. Targets in
retinotopic and head-centered coordinates are in this manner rendered
dimensionally consistent so that they can compete for attention to
generate a movement command in motor error coordinates. As shown below, both stationary, decaying (burst neurons) and spreading-wave (buildup neurons) activity profiles are produced in a natural way as emergent properties of the circuits that enable this transformation.
In particular, when auditory or planned movement vectors represent the
same position as a visual target, then the former vectors learn how to
map onto the SC motor error locations that represent visually reactive
movement vectors. These various movement vectors can then compete when
not in agreement to select winning cells the activity of which
generates a focus of attention. Competition also helps to stabilize the
map-learning process by suppressing all but the winning vectors, so
that the learned map is not eroded by the massive flux of multiple
possible target locations and the corresponding teaching signals.
Retinotopic visually reactive saccade system. Initially,
saccades are executed reactively to targets defined by changing visual signals that are registered on the retina. These retinotopic signals map topographically in a natural way into a motor error map (Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 , Chapter 3). These motor error signals activate map locations in the peak decay (PD) layer (Fig.
2a) of burst cells that, in
turn, topographically excite the spreading wave (SW) layer of buildup
cells. The term "spreading wave" will be used below as a mnemonic
to designate the spreading activity that occurs at buildup cells. The
reactive target coordinates at PD and SW cells are thus consistent with
the motor error coordinates that are coded in collicular maps (Davson,
1990 ).
Fig. 2.
a, An adaptive gain
(AG) stage that is used to calibrate visually reactive
saccades. SG, Saccade generator. b, A
corollary discharge coding current eye position that is added to the
position of the target to define a head-centered spatial map.
c, A head-centered representation of motor error that is
produced by learning the transformation of the head-centered target
representation and the final eye position. The motor error reflecting
the head-centered target is then converted from a vector to a spatial
map so that it can be combined with a motor error signal indicating the
reactive target. d, Corticotectal map learning.
[View Larger Version of this Image (20K GIF file)]
The locus of activation in such a motor error map codes the direction
and amplitude (or length) of a saccadic movement. Such an encoding is
not the same thing, however, as generating an accurately calibrated
saccade (e.g., see Stanford and Sparks, 1994 ; White et al., 1994 ;
Stanford et al., 1996 ). For this to happen, several other processes
need to occur. For one, the motor error signal is converted from the
spatial coordinate system of the collicular map to a temporal code that
specifies the firing rate of cells in the saccade generator (Robinson,
1973 ; Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 , Chapter 7). Although both PD and
SW cells play a role in generating saccadic outputs (see Table 1), only
the SW output will be explicitly modeled here, for simplicity.
Table 1.
Anatomical properties of cells used in the model
| Cell type |
Property
|
|
| Peak decay (burst
cells) |
Located in intermediate SC
|
|
Efferent projections to: |
|
Mesencephalic reticular
formation, |
|
Deeper and superficial SC neurons,
|
|
Predorsal bundle |
|
Receive inhibitory input from SNr
|
| Spreading wave (build up cells) |
Located in intermediate
layers of SC Collateral connections Efferent projections
to: Mesencephalic reticular formation, Predorsal bundle
Receive excitatory input from cortex Receive inhibitory input from
SNr except at rostral pole |
| Mesencephalic reticular
formation |
Inhibitory projections to contralateral and ipsilateral
SC |
|
|
|
This spatial to temporal conversion is calibrated via a side path
containing an adaptive gain stage. Early in development, if retinal
error exists after a visually reactive saccade, the error is used to
modify an adaptively weighted connection to the adaptive gain stage,
the anatomy and neurophysiology of which model aspects of cerebellar
learning (Ito, 1984 ; Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 , Chapter 3; Fiala
et al., 1996 ). The adaptively gain-controlled reactive pathway then
produces accurate saccades. In some models (e.g., Lefèvre and
Galiana, 1992 ), accuracy requires calibrated negative feedback to the
superior colliculus. In others (Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 ; Dominey
and Arbib, 1992 ), accuracy is explained without negative feedback to
the superior colliculus during reactive saccades.
A further refinement requires an analysis of how different combinations
of auditory, visually attentive, and planned eye movements, which are
controlled by the parietal and prefrontal cortices, get calibrated by
mechanisms downstream and parallel to the SC. Gancarz and Grossberg
(1997) build on the present model to show how spatially distributed
outputs from both PD and SW cells to the saccade generator cause
movements with experimentally observed properties in response to these
different types of movement commands.
Deciding among visual, auditory, and planned saccades. In
addition to retinotopic coordinates, visual targets can also be stored
in head-centered coordinates. For example, when a visual saccadic
target must be stored in memory, intervening eye movements could render
the stored target inaccurate if the location remained in retinotopic
coordinates before eye movement.
Accurate visually reactive movements create a stable dynamical
substrate on which a head-centered spatial map of invariant target
location can form. A visual target can be converted from a retinotopic
to a head-centered signal by adding the current eye position (Robinson,
1973 , 1975 ; Andersen et al., 1985 ; Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 ;
Andersen and Zipser, 1988 ). This is true because a corollary discharge
from, for example, tonic cells of the saccade generator can provide an
accurate measure of current eye position once reactive movements have
been calibrated by the cerebellar adaptive gain stage (Fig.
2b). Such a head-centered map can be used as a source of
intentional and memory-based movement commands and is identified with
the proposals that similar map properties exist in the parietal and
prefrontal cortices (Andersen et al., 1985 ; Schlag and Schlag-Rey,
1987 ; Mann et al., 1988 ).
These planned eye movement targets share the efferent neurons of the
colliculus with reactive saccade targets. However, visually reactive
cells encode gaze error in a retinotopically activated motor
map. Auditory and planned targets are coded in head-centered coordinates. Targets in head-centered coordinates must be adaptively mapped to a gaze motor error in retinotopic coordinates to access the
correct efferent zones in the SC.
The transformation takes place in the model in three steps. First, the
transformation between a head-centered target position and a motor
error vector (viz., the direction and amplitude of the desired eye
movement) is learned. This transformation is learned by computing the
difference between the head-centered target position and the final eye
position after a reactive movement terminates (see Fig.
2c). This computed difference is a motor error
vector. Because reactive movements are rendered accurate by cerebellar learning, the final eye position is the target position after such a
movement. In other words, the motor error vector between the stored
head-centered target position and the final eye position should equal
zero. Learning of the transformation is thus accomplished by a process
that reduces the error vector to zero (Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 ,
Chapter 4). This is accomplished by using the error vector as a
teaching signal that alters the adaptive weights in the pathway from
the cells that compute the head-centered spatial map to those that
compute the motor error (Fig. 2c). Weight learning
continues until the error equals zero, at which time the signals from
the head-centered cells read out the target position in motor
coordinates at the motor error vector cells.
Such a transformation can be learned in response to any number of
head-centered maps, including auditory, visually attentive, and planned
movement maps. In each case, when a new target is instated and read out
at the motor error vector cells of its map, the present eye position is
subtracted from it. This difference codes the desired movement to the
new target. Thus the motor error vector cells not only control a
learned coordinate change but also compute movement vectors.
Groh and Sparks (1992) have also used motor error vectors to model
saccadic movements. They noted that auditory signals enter the brain in
head coordinates. To convert them to motor error coordinates, they
subtracted present eye position from the head coordinate
representation. These authors do not, however, consider how this
transformation is adaptively calibrated. Instead, their model assumes
that perfect calibration is available. We show how these motor error
vectors may be calibrated via learning. Within the parietal cortex,
these motor vectors represent potential or intended movements toward
attended visual or auditory targets. It is assumed that parietal cortex
can store at most one target at a time. In contrast, frontal cortex is
capable of working memory, whereby it can store a sequence of object or
spatial commands (Perecman, 1987 ; Thierry et al., 1994 ; Rao et al.,
1997 ). Grossberg (1978 a,b) and Grossberg and Kuperstein (1986, Chapter
9) have modeled how such a sequence of commands can be stored in
working memory and performed one at a time. It is assumed that these
head-centered commands are converted into motor error vectors before
being read out from prefrontal cortex. Data from parietal cortex
(Barash et al., 1991a ,b ; Colby et al., 1992 ) and frontal eye fields
(Bruce and Goldberg, 1985 ; Goldberg and Bruce, 1990 ) support the
hypothesis that outputs from these areas code the direction and
amplitude of saccadic movements.
Further experiments are needed to determine whether these
representations take the form of motor vectors and/or the motor error
maps that the model also invokes; namely, the second step of the model
converts these motor vectors into locations on a topographic map, which
is called the motor error map (Fig. 2c). This step
transforms large activity levels in the motor vector code to caudal
positions in the topographic map and small activity levels to rostral
positions (Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 , Section 6.3). Here the terms
"caudal" and "rostral" refer primarily to opposite ends of the
map. However, they also anticipate that learning will create a
correlation between the position code of this map and that of the
colliculus.
The third step is a learned transformation from the maps of the
auditory, visually attentive, and planned motor errors to the map of
visually reactive motor errors at the buildup cell or SW layer (Fig.
2d). This transformation renders the initially visually
reactive map also sensitive to multimodal and planned targets. For
example, it is proposed to be the means whereby frontal eye field
(Schlag-Rey et al., 1992 ) and auditory (Jay and Sparks, 1984 , 1987b ,
1990) signals get accurately mapped onto the SC movement map. This
hypothesis is consistent with evidence showing that the latency of
auditory saccades depends on retinotopic motor error, as does latency
to a visual target presentation (Zambarbieri et al., 1995 ). By
transforming the planned, auditory, and head-centered visual targets
into gaze motor error coordinates at the SW layer, all of these input
sources can compete to select a winning target location. In addition,
all of these various commands can use the cerebellar, or adaptive gain,
side path that the visually reactive map controls (Fig. 2a).
Multimodal fusion onto initially visually reactive pathways hereby
enables planned frontal commands and parietal auditory commands to both
compete with and exploit the accuracy of the visually reactive saccade
system.
Retinotopic and head-centered coordinate system alignment.
The various maps from head-centered to motor error coordinates are
learned by associating two representations of the same target position
in space. For example, after the visually activated head-centered parietal map forms, a visual target can activate both the peak decay
layer in the visually reactive pathway and the head-centered maps in
the parietal and prefrontal cortices (Fig. 2d). These pathways are associated by transforming the targets in head-centered coordinates into a gaze motor error map the output signals of which
converge on the spreading wave layer, in which they use associative
learning to become adaptively aligned with the visually reactive map.
From this perspective, visually driven output signals from the peak
decay, or burst cell, layer define teaching signals to the spreading
wave, or buildup cell, layer at which unimodal inputs converge from
multiple cortical loci (Fig. 2d). This is the central reason
in the model why both cell types exist. Learning enables the motor
error vectors from these unimodal inputs to map onto the correct
locations within the spreading wave layer using the teaching signals
from the burst cell layer as aligning cues.
In response to each active burst cell location, a Gaussian teaching
function across position is sent to the buildup cell layer (Fig.
2d). This teaching signal enables maximal learning to occur at the peak of the Gaussian, whereas less learning occurs farther away.
Each error vector is hereby associated with a population of SC cells,
with the most active cell situated at a map location that best codes
the correct saccadic direction and amplitude. Such distributed
population learning has several functional roles. First and foremost,
it enables new target locations that have not been practiced during
development to generate accurate saccades by using the Gaussian to
interpolate locations that have been practiced. Secondary consequences
are that an SC population code determines saccadic movements (Sparks
and Nelson, 1987 ; Sparks and Mays, 1990 ), saccadic averaging can occur
(Schiller and Sandell, 1983 ), and the buildup activity profile across
the SC is very broad (see below).
Map learning takes place when a visual cue onset is coded by both the
head-centered and visually reactive pathways. Consistent simultaneous
activity in both pathways allows the location in the cortical error map
that is activated by the head-centered representation to sample the
position that correctly codes the desired eye movement in the reactive
pathway on a number of learning trials. Activation of mismatched
locations by discordant cues are statistically uncorrelated and get
washed out by competitive interactions across the layers. In this way,
the planned target is adaptively transformed from a head-centered
representation to a gaze motor error vector and then to a gaze motor
error map that is adaptively aligned with the map of the gaze motor
error in the visually reactive pathway. The error map in this layer resembles the directional maps described for deep layers of the superior colliculus (Sparks and Mays, 1980 ).
Spreading waves, peak decay, and map learning. Why does map
learning produce a system characterized by a spread of activity across
the buildup cell layer during saccades? When a gaze motor error signal
is sent to the saccade generator (Fig.
3), an eye movement begins. As the
movement progresses, the motor error vector decreases due to the
negative feedback from the eye position corollary discharge. The
declining error vector excites a series of loci on the cortical error
map. As a result, the commanded location at the buildup cell layer
shifts across the map. The buildup cell layer thus exhibits a spreading
wave as an emergent property of the circuit that makes auditory,
planned, and visually reactive commands dimensionally consistent so
that they can be adaptively mapped into one another. The spreading wave
results from continuous updating of the adaptive motor error map as the
movement progresses.
Fig. 3.
Emergence of the spreading wave from the learned
map using corollary discharges.
[View Larger Version of this Image (17K GIF file)]
This hypothesis helps to explain why the buildup of activity across the
SC is so broad. Each new error vector maps into a new Gaussianly
distributed location at the SW layer, and the cells of this layer take
a while for their activity to decay. In addition, signals from the
decaying activity of the burst cells cause a residual secondary peak of
buildup cell activity to gradually decay. These properties are
simulated below to fit SC data.
Our present interpretation of the process by which error vectors are
updated as the saccade unfolds uses feedback loops that include the
parietal and frontal cortices. There is, however, no logical
requirement that would make it impossible for such a feedback loop to
also be closed using noncortical sites. If the cortical loops are the
only ones that exist, then lesions of all the appropriate parietal and
prefrontal representations should eliminate the spreading wave but not
the ability to generate saccades directly via burst and buildup
activities that would not spread toward the fixation cells during a
saccade. Moreover, note that the cortical input to the colliculus is
excitatory, not inhibitory. Thus cutting this input would not have the
same effect as cutting inhibitory feedback in a classical negative feedback loop.
Topographically organized excitatory feedback from the spreading wave
to the peak decay layer allows a resonant activation to occur between
corresponding locations in the two layers. Because resonant activation
drives the map-learning process, it is critical to restrict its spatial
locus (Fig. 4a). A nonspecific
inhibitory signal from the spreading wave layer, proposed to be
mediated by the mesencephalic reticular formation (Edwards and de
Olmos, 1976 ; Edwards et al., 1979 ; Sparks and Hartwich-Young, 1989 ), reaches all target locations at the fixed peak layer. The resonantly supported locations can survive the inhibition. A target is thus chosen
by a competition in which irrelevant targets are inhibited. This
circuit hereby helps to select an attended target. It also stabilizes
the learning process by preventing irrelevant targets from being
associated with each other. Models of this type are called adaptive
resonance theory, or ART, models. The present model is thus called the
SACCART model. ART models suggest that resonant states help to focus
and stabilize learning in many brain systems, other than the SC,
including multiple levels of visual and auditory processing (Carpenter
and Grossberg, 1993 ; Gove et al., 1995 ; Grossberg, 1995 , 1997 ;
Grossberg et al., 1997a ,b ).
Fig. 4.
a, Resonance of visually reactive
position during a saccade. b, Blocking of irrelevant
targets during a planned saccade. Open circles are
sources of inhibition. For simplicity, the motor error vector and map
are combined.
[View Larger Version of this Image (25K GIF file)]
Rostral migration of activity in the spreading wave layer from its
original location erodes feedback excitation to the burst cell map at
which visually reactive targets are stored. The eroding excitatory
input thus leads to decay of the fixed peak of activity because the
error in foveating the target decreases. That is why this spatial map
is referred to as the PD layer.
Reconciling auditory, planned, and reactive saccade targets.
Auditory, planned, and visual targets compete for attention (Kowler et
al., 1995 ; Deubel and Schneider, 1996 ). Auditory or planned targets
must be able to be chosen over a visual one under some conditions. In
the model, the chosen eye movement locks out interruptions from other
targets during its execution. In all cases, when the auditory or
planned and the visually reactive targets agree, learning is
reinforced. When the auditory or planned and the visually reactive targets disagree, learning between these different representations is
suppressed, and the distracting target is prevented from interrupting the saccade. It should be realized, however, that a head-centered visual representation of a target that agrees with its visually reactive representation can still support learning at the corresponding location on the motor error map. When such a visual target location is
attentionally selected, irrelevant visually activated target locations
are suppressed.
Two sources of inhibition suppress irrelevant visually activated target
locations (Fig. 4b). One source is the nonspecific inhibition discussed in the previous section. The second inhibitory source is interrupted during an eye movement at both the spreading wave
and peak decay layers. At the spreading wave layer, this latter source
of inhibition is eliminated when the target is presented to allow
activity to build at this layer. At the peak decay layer, it is
released at the location of the chosen target gaze error. Inhibition
remains to other cells in the peak decay layer, therefore preventing
their activation when the spreading wave activity shifts across the
map.
Anatomical and neurophysiological SC correlates and sites of
attentional target selection. The connections of cells in the model, summarized in Figure
5a, closely correlate with
known anatomy and neurophysiology of the superior colliculus. Figure
5b depicts this correspondence to anatomical data in the
superior colliculus. These connections are also summarized in Table
1, which relates anatomical evidence to
different cell types in the model (Hikosaka and Wurtz, 1983a ,b ; Cohen
and Büttner-Ennever, 1984 ; Moschovakis et al., 1988a ,b ; Sparks
and Hartwich-Young, 1989 ). Neurophysiological correlates are summarized
along with the simulations reported below.
Fig. 5.
a, Schematic representation of the
model of local interactions in the superior colliculus.
b, Anatomical correlates of the model depicted in
a. SNr, Substantia nigra;
PPRF, paramedian pontine reticular formation;
MRF, mesencephalic reticular formation.
[View Larger Version of this Image (33K GIF file)]
Attentional selection of a saccadic target may be progressively
elaborated in several brain regions. For example, it is known that
movement commands in the parietal cortex are attentively modulated
(Mountcastle et al., 1981 ; Wurtz et al., 1982 ; Maylor and Hockey, 1985 ;
Fischer, 1986 ; Fischer and Breitmeyer, 1987 ; Rizzolatti et al., 1987 ).
On the other hand, visual, auditory, and planned movement commands
converge in the SC, where a key stage in the selection of a saccadic
target occurs.
It is also known, however, that planned saccades can be made when the
SC is lesioned (Schiller and Sandell, 1983 ) and that the frontal eye
fields can activate the saccade generator without activating the SC
(Schlag-Rey et al., 1992 ; Segraves, 1992 ). As a result, volitional
saccades can use additional adaptive stages than the ones used for
calibrating reactive saccades (Deubel, 1995 ). The model rationalizes
these latter results by noting that accurate visually reactive saccades
can be made before the head-centered maps develop and gain access to
the visually reactive map via associative learning. The model hereby
suggests that visually reactive saccades may be possible in
sufficiently young infants without generating a spreading wave. When
the spreading wave does develop, it alters the total SC output command,
which becomes distributed across a larger expanse of SC cells.
Likewise, even in adults, visually reactive and planned saccades can
generate different activation patterns across the burst and buildup
cell populations (see Figs. 8, 10). The model suggests that error
vector and map inputs to the SC from the parietal and frontal cortices help to select the final saccadic target but that additional adaptive pathways help to ensure that the gains of volitional movements control
accurate movements even though they generate different activation
patterns than do the visually reactive movements. Gancarz and Grossberg
(1997) extend the present model to simulate data concerning how these
several adaptive pathways work together to ensure that visually
reactive, visually attentive, auditory, and planned movement are all
calibrated correctly.
Fig. 8.
The pattern of recorded activity across buildup
cells in monkey superior colliculus (left) (reprinted
with permission from Munoz and Wurtz, 1995b ) compared with simulated
activity of model buildup cells across the SW layer
(right) over time. Each graph displays the activity
across all cells in the collicular map at a particular time. The
rostral-most cell is at the left edge, and the
caudal-most cell is at the right edge in each
graph.
[View Larger Version of this Image (33K GIF file)]
Fig. 10.
(a) Burst and
(b) buildup cell responses (reprinted with
permission from Munoz and Wurtz, 1995a ) compared with simulations of
(c) PD and (d) SW responses
at cell 20 in a visually guided paradigm. a-d, The
plots at the top show the onset (shaded
box forms) and offset (flat line forms)
of the fixation point (F) and the target
(T). The graphs show cell activity as it
changes over time (top) and changes in eye position
(bottom).
[View Larger Version of this Image (22K GIF file)]
Realistic simulations of the physiological response properties of both
burst and buildup cells in five different saccade paradigms are
simulated in the Results. The mathematical equations and parameters of
the model are summarized in Appendix.
RESULTS
Map-learning simulations
All simulations used a fourth order Runge-Kutta algorithm with a
fixed step size of 0.0025. The first simulations demonstrate how the
multimodal map is learned. The adaptive weight
zij from the ith cell in the
spatial error map to the jth cell in the PD layer grew if
their activities Xi and
Pj were simultaneously large, where
j is the cell corresponding to the initial gaze motor error.
For a saccade encoded by an initial gaze motor error at cell 12, the
weights z12j from cell 12 in the
planned motor error map to cells near a j of 12 in the SW
layer also grow because of the Gaussian spread of the PD activity that
is input to the SW layer. This spread was initially very broad and
covered over half of the SW layer (Fig.
6a).
PkGk-j in Figure
6a shows the spatial width of the teaching signal from the
kth PD cell to the jth SW cell, where
Pk is the activity of the kth
PD cell and Gk-j is the strength of the
Gaussian filter connection to the jth SW cell.
Fig. 6.
a, The activity across the spatial
error map (Xi) and the Gaussian spread of
PD activity to the SW layer. b, The resulting adaptive
weights (zij) after 1000 randomly distributed target presentations.
[View Larger Version of this Image (29K GIF file)]
Learning was performed during 1000 randomly generated saccades. All of
the adaptive weights zij were initialized to 1.0, and the reactive input Rk to the
PD layer was set equal to 200. All of the weights
zij that resulted from training during
these 1000 saccades are shown in Figure 6b. These weights
were used to generate activity at the SW layer during saccades, with
each saccade made to a target at a different gaze motor error. The
activity profile at the SW layer for each different saccade is shown in
Figure 7. The SW activity is shown at a
specific time after each target presentation but before eye movement
has started. The vertical lines correspond to the
location in which the peak decay activity was found. In this figure,
the maximally active cell at the SW layer corresponds to the location
of the peak decay activity. This correspondence indicates that the
learned weights provide an accurate mapping from the spatial error map to the SW layer.
Fig. 7.
The weights zij from
Figure 6 used to show the activity across the SW layer at a time after
the target is presented at different gaze errors but before eye
movement begins. The maximum activity in the SW layer is at the same
location as the PD layer activity (shown by the vertical
lines), implying that an accurate mapping was learned.
[View Larger Version of this Image (15K GIF file)]
Burst and buildup cell simulations
The next simulations are of the time course of activation of burst
and buildup cells during a saccade, using the adaptive weights learned
above (Munoz and Wurtz, 1995b ). These simulations were run using the
learned map values zij summarized in
Figures 6 and 7. When a target is presented at a gaze motor error coded
by cell 18 (0.36 radians), a desired eye position is input to the
planned pathway. The corollary discharge coding current eye position is
subtracted from the desired eye position signal, and a motor error
vector results (Fig. 3). The new motor error is converted to a map
representation, which produces a distributed region of input to the
error map, the maximum of which occurs at the location that codes the
current motor error. This distributed error map input produces a
buildup of activity at the SW layer before the saccade begins (Fig.
8). The location of peak activity in the
SW layer covaries with the gaze motor error. As the eye movement
progresses, the corollary discharge coding current eye position is
subtracted from the desired eye position signal. The dynamic motor
error coded by the motor difference vector decreases as the eye
approaches the target location. As this new motor error is converted to
a map representation, the locations of the most active sites in the
error map shift, and the location of the maximal peak in the layer
migrates toward the rostral edge of the map. The migration of the peak
in the error map causes a similar shift of activity in the SW layer
(Fig. 8).
Several factors complicate the distribution of activity at the SW
layer. One factor is that the input to the SW layer is spatially distributed even in response to a fixed motor error (Figs.
2d, 3). A second factor is that activity builds up and
decays in response to the input to SW cells at a finite rate, even as
the dynamic motor error that causes it is changing. Finally, as the
activity moves across the SW layer, excitatory input to the active
location at the PD layer erodes. This decrease in excitatory input
causes the activity at the PD layer to decrease (Fig.
9). A secondary peak of activity in the
SW layer near the location of the initial motor error is visible, even
as the saccade ends, because of residual input from the PD layer (Fig.
8).
Fig. 9.
The pattern of recorded activity across burst
cells in monkey superior colliculus (left) (reprinted
with permission from Munoz and Wurtz, 1995b ) compared with simulated
activity of cells across the PD layer (right) over time.
Each graph displays the activity across all cells in the collicular map
at a particular time. The rostral-most cell is at the
left edge, and the caudal-most cell is at the
right edge in each graph.
[View Larger Version of this Image (31K GIF file)]
The release from inhibition by the substantia nigra at the PD layer,
together with the increasing SW activity input, causes a rapid increase
in the activity at the PD layer before eye movement, followed by
activity the declining amplitude of which, at the same location,
covaries with residual motor error (Fig. 9).
Next we simulate the dynamics of burst and buildup cell activities
during visual, overlap, memory, and gap tasks (Munoz and Wurtz, 1995a ).
During each of the four saccade paradigms that were simulated, it was
assumed that both planned and reactive inputs were provided to the SW
and PD layers, respectively. While the target light was on, both the
reactive and planned inputs were presented to the PD and SW layers. The
reactive input shut off at target offset or the start of eye movement;
the planned input remained on throughout the eye movement. Eye movement
was initiated when the activity at the peak SW cell was greater than a
threshold value. We assumed the simplest output law by letting the
muscle plant integrate the output signal from the maximally activated
SW cell (see Appendix for details) in the motor error map, which shifts
its location and activity as the saccade progresses. Gancarz and
Grossberg (1997) build on the present model to show that it works when
spatially distributed burst and buildup cell activity inputs to a model
of the reticular saccade generator, which in turn activates the muscle
plant. The simulation results derived from the present model are
compared with physiological data in the following sections.
The simulation results for each of the four saccade paradigms are
displayed below (see Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13). In each of the figures, there are
data comparing the physiological responses of a burst cell (top
left) and a buildup cell (bottom left) with
the simulated responses of a PD cell (top right) and a
SW cell (bottom right). Above both the biological and
simulated cell responses are two time lines that indicate the status
(on or off) of the fixation point and the external target stimulus.
Below each graphed cell response is a line indicating the current eye
position throughout the simulation.
Fig. 11.
(a) Burst and
(b) buildup cell responses (reprinted with
permission from Munoz and Wurtz, 1995a ) compared with simulations of
(c) PD and (d) SW responses
at cell 20 in an overlap paradigm. The plots are described in the
legend for Figure 10.
[View Larger Version of this Image (18K GIF file)]
Fig. 12.
(a) Burst and
(b) buildup cell responses (reprinted with
permission from Munoz and Wurtz, 1995a ) compared with simulations of
(c) PD and (d) SW responses
at cell 20 in a memory-guided paradigm. The plots are described in the
legend for Figure 10.
[View Larger Version of this Image (17K GIF file)]
Fig. 13.
(a) Burst and
(b) buildup cell responses (reprinted with
permission from Munoz and Wurtz, 1995a ) compared with simulations of
(c) PD and (d) SW responses
at cell 20 in a gap paradigm. The plots are described in the legend for
Figure 10.
[View Larger Version of this Image (20K GIF file)]
Visually guided paradigm simulation
In the visually guided saccade simulation, shown in Figure
10, fixation point offset coincides
with target presentation, at which point eye movement begins. At the SW
layer, only rostral pole fixation cells (not plotted) are active while
the fixation point remains on. At fixation point offset and target
onset, the fixation cell activity decays, whereas a hill pattern builds
up across the orientation buildup cells. The peak of the hill
corresponds to the initial gaze motor error. When the fixation cell
activity ceases, the hill travels from the caudal to the rostral end of the map. The activity eventually reaches the fixation zone and stops
moving. The SW cell activity rises and falls gradually as does buildup
cell activity. The fall of the activity at the locus of the initial
peak of the SW layer extends beyond the end of the eye movement.
When the target is presented, activity at the PD layer is produced at
cell 20 corresponding to the initial gaze motor error. The peak decay
cell activity begins later than does SW cell activity and coincides
closely with the beginning of eye movement. This relationship is
similar to that of burst cell activity in comparison with buildup cell
activity. PD cell activity rises and falls abruptly as does burst cell
activity, and the fall of the PD cell activity coincides with the end
of the eye movement.
Overlap paradigm simulation
In the overlap saccade, shown in Figure
11, target presentation precedes
fixation point offset. Activity at the PD layer grows and generates a
burst after the fixation point is turned off. An eye movement then
begins. Initially at the SW layer, while only the fixation point is on,
maximum activity is produced only at the fixation cells. When both the
fixation point and the target are on, the fixation cell becomes active,
and a hill of activity builds up across the buildup cells. The SW cell
response subsequently decays because of habituation (see
Zij in Equation 9 of Appendix) until the
fixation light is turned off. When the fixation point is turned off and
only the target remains on, the hill of activity builds up to a higher
level and travels across the map as a spread of buildup cell
activity.
Memory-guided paradigm simulation
In the memory-guided saccade, shown in Figure
12, both target onset and offset
precede fixation point offset. Activity at the PD layer grows into a
burst after the fixation light is turned off. When only the fixation
point is on, only the SW fixation cells are active at the SW layer.
When the target is flashed, the orientation buildup cells exhibit
activity along with the fixation cells. The level of orientation cell
activity remains constant while the fixation point remains on but
increases and then migrates once the fixation point is turned off.
Gap paradigm simulation
In the gap saccade, shown in Figure
13, fixation point offset precedes
target onset. Activity at the PD layer coincides with target onset and
then decays. When only the fixation point is on, the fixation cell at
the SW layer is the only SW cell active. When neither the fixation
point nor the target is on, the fixation cell activity quickly decays,
and there is no activity at the SW layer. At target onset, an activity
hill builds up across orientation buildup cells. Note that this buildup
occurs at a quicker rate than in the visually guided saccade simulation
of Figure 10. This shorter latency can be compared with the production
of an express saccade. Express saccades are often elicited during the
gap saccade task (Fischer and Weber, 1993 ). Observations by Dr. Doug
Munoz (personal communication) indicate that there is a spreading wave during both regular and express saccades.
These simulations demonstrate how the PD cells in the model can be
identified with burst cells and how the SW cells in the model can be
identified with buildup cells. Table 2
summarizes these comparisons.
Multimodal enhancement and depression simulations
Auditory inputs to the model SC can be transformed from a
head-centered into a motor error map by using the same type of circuit that planned and attended visual targets use (see Fig. 5a).
The same model mechanisms transform all head-centered signals into a
motor error map. This coordinate transformation is thus a general engine for linking head-centered to motor error commands. Because each
corticocollicular pathway is unimodal, each such pathway needs to
compute a motor error vector (Fig. 5a), but all of these error vectors can then use the same PD layer teaching signals and SW
layer cells to determine the winning-target locations.
We now show that the SW membrane equations that combine visual
and auditory input produce multiplicative response enhancement in cells
at the spreading wave layer for coincidentally located visual and
auditory targets and response depression in cells when the targets are
not at the same location, as also occurs in vivo (Stein and
Meredith, 1993 ). The activity at the SW layer was compared during three
different target presentations. A unimodal target consisting of a
visual target only was presented at a gaze motor error coded by cell
10. Two different multimodal targets were presented. The first was a
multimodal target consisting of a visual and an auditory target both at
a gaze motor error coded by cell 10. The second was a visual and an
auditory target at different locations, with the visual target
presented at a gaze motor error coded by cell 10 and the auditory
target presented at a gaze motor error coded by cell 5.
The activity across the SW layer (Fig.
14) at the end of this sensory response
period is shown for all three target presentations. The SW layer
activity is shown during presentation of the single multimodal target
(a), the unimodal target (b), and the separate auditory and visual targets (c). In each graph, the
activities of all buildup cells at the SW layer are shown, and the
diameters of the circles are directly proportional to the activity of
the SW cell at each corresponding location. The value of the slider bars at the top of each graph reflects the gaze motor error of the
visual or auditory target when the target is presented. The location of
the filled circles also indicates this gaze motor error.
Fig. 14.
The simulated activity of all buildup cells at
the SW layer at the end of the sensory response period for each of
three target presentations. The SW layer activity is shown during
presentation of (a) a single multimodal target,
(b) a unimodal target, and (c) separate auditory and visual targets. In each
graph, the diameters of the circles are directly
proportional to the activity of the SW cell at each corresponding
location. The value of the slider bars at the
top of each graph and the location of the filled
circles reflect the gaze motor error of the visual
(Av) or auditory (Aa) target.
[View Larger Version of this Image (22K GIF file)]
The average sensory response of a SW cell was used to determine the
effects of multimodal response enhancement or depression compared with
unimodal response. This measure was considered analogous to the mean
number of impulses produced by a neuron during presentation of a
sensory cue that was used by Stein and Meredith (1993) . The average
sensory response is defined as the average activity produced by a cell
from the time a target is presented until the time that the premotor
response of the PD layer begins. The cell response that was used was
always from a cell at the same location regardless of the target
presentation. In the simulations described below, this is always cell
10.
According to the formula used by Stein and Meredith (1993) for
computing a comparison of activity at a cell during single and
multimodal target presentations, the response enhancement or depression
of the cell can be computed as:
where CM is the average number of impulses evoked by the
combined-modality stimulus and SMmax is the average number
of impulses evoked by the most effective single-modality stimulus. When
the average activities at cell 10 in the unimodal target simulation and
the single multimodal target are compared, the response enhancement is:
The increase in SW cell activity in the multimodal case occurs
because there is excitatory input not only from the visual spatial
error map but also from the auditory spatial error map. This increase
in excitatory input pushes the SW cell activity into the linear region
of the signal function c(t) in Equation 9 of the
Appendix, thereby producing additional excitatory feedback to this cell
and enhancing its activity. In the case in which a unimodal target is
presented, the excitatory input from the visual spatial error map to
the SW cell is insufficient to produce SW cell activity in the linear
region of the signal function; thus the SW cell activity remains in its
slower-than-linear region, and the excitatory feedback to this cell is
negligible.
Increasing the spatial separation of a visual and an auditory stimulus
produces an activity pattern across the SW layer that reflects a gaze
change biased toward the closer target. If both targets are spatially
coincident, the combination of the two excitatory bell-shaped inputs
corresponding to the visual and auditory targets in the planned pathway
produces a bell-shaped activity profile in the SW layer the peak of
which corresponds to the motor error of the target location. If the
disparity between the two targets is increased, the combination of the
two activity profiles produces a bell-shaped activity pattern with an
initial peak location representing the gaze motor error between the
two targets. If the spatial separation is increased further, the
activity pattern that is produced has a peak closer to the gaze error
representing the medial target.
This bias in the peak location is produced by the combination of the
two activity profiles from the auditory and visual spatial error maps.
Because of the distribution of weights from the error vector map to the
spatial error map, the bell-shaped activity profile corresponding to a
target with a small gaze error is narrower than is the activity profile
corresponding to a target with a larger gaze error. As a result, the
map locations where the two activity profiles overlap are closer to the
target with the smaller gaze error. When the two activity profiles are
combined, this results in a profile with a peak closer to the location
coding the smaller gaze error.
When the average activities at cell 10 in the unimodal target
simulation and the simulation of multimodal targets at separate locations are compared, the response depression is:
The depression in SW activity at cell 10 in the multimodal case
can be compared with the SW activity in the unimodal case. This
depression results because the excitatory input from the visual spatial
and the auditory spatial error maps do not significantly overlap.
Therefore, in both the unimodal and multimodal cases, the excitatory
input to the SW cell is virtually the same. This amount of excitatory
input allows the SW cell activity to remain in the slower-than-linear
region of the feedback function, and the excitatory feedback to this
cell is negligible. The response depression increases in the multimodal
case because the growth of activity at a gaze error location between
the visual and auditory targets pushes the surround activity at cell 10 into the linear region of the signal function c, producing
additional inhibitory feedback to this cell.
DISCUSSION
Recent data on the superior colliculus reveal a spreading wave of
activation the peak of which codes the current gaze error (Munoz et
al., 1991 ). In contrast, Waitzman et al. (1991) found that the locus of
peak activity in the superior colliculus remains constant, whereas the
activity level at this locus decays as a function of residual gaze
error. The two main modeling approaches that have been used previously
to understand how the superior colliculus controls saccadic eye
movements have attempted to understand one or both of these data sets.
In the first approach, the location of activity on the caudal region of
the superior colliculus codes the initial size of the gaze shift, and
its amplitude decreases as the remaining motor error decreases (Tweed
and Vilis, 1990 ; Waitzman et al., 1991 ). When the target is fixated,
neural activity on the caudal superior colliculus map disappears, and
activity in the rostral zone appears. In the second approach, not only does the amplitude of the initial activity decay with decreasing motor
error, but the location of maximal activity on the map travels from the
initial caudal location until it reaches the rostral zone after
fixation (Droulez and Berthoz, 1991 ; Munoz et al., 1991 ; Dominey and
Arbib, 1992 ; Lefèvre and Galiana, 1992 ).
The more recent model of Optican (1995) (Wurtz and Optican, 1994 ) does
suggest clear-cut functional roles for both burst and buildup cells.
The model burst and buildup activity patterns play roles in producing
two output signals from the SC. Burst cells produce output specifying
the desired initial gaze displacement. Buildup cells integrate velocity
command feedback to form a representation of gaze displacement. The
spread of activity across the buildup cells reflects the motion of the
eye by incorporating the influence of the velocity feedback. The
resulting current and desired gaze displacement signals, the difference
of which specifies the dynamic motor error, are output from the SC to
the brainstem burst generator. This model assumes that the dynamic
motor error is computed from these two signals in the brainstem, not in
the SC. Thus, Optican proposes that burst and buildup cell types are
needed to produce the two kinds of signals assumed in a model of the
type originally proposed by Jürgens et al. (1981) .
The Optican (1995) model is not supported by the data in two areas in
which the current model matches the data. If buildup cells really were
integrating feedback of the eye velocity command, then they would not
show the observed presaccadic buildup that starts at a time associated
with target onset and not just before saccade onset, as required by the
Optican (1995) model. Moreover, if burst cells really reflected the
desired initial gaze displacement, with the residual or dynamic motor
error computed later, in the brainstem, then burst cells would not show
the correlation with dynamic motor error reported by Waitzman et al.
(1991) .
The present model is consistent with the main data about burst and
buildup cells and with many aspects of previous models. However, this
model also analyzes how the coordinate systems that the superior
colliculus uses to control movement arise and how multiple types of
movement commands are rendered dimensionally consistent via learning
and compete to select and attend to a final movement command. Whereas
Optican's model suggests that both burst and buildup signals are
needed to produce output signals, it does not analyze the role that we
propose they play in adaptively aligning and coordinating multiple
types of movement signal. The present model suggests that these issues
are central ones for understanding the functional organization of the
saccadic system in general and the superior colliculus in
particular.
For example, reflexive and volitional commands both share control of
saccadic eye movements. Visually reactive cells encode gaze error in a
retinotopically activated motor map, whereas auditory targets are
obviously registered in head-centered coordinates, and it has been
proposed that visually attended target representations in parietal
cortex are also computed in head-centered coordinates (Andersen et al.,
1985 , 1990 ). To combine these saccade commands in the superior
colliculus, the commands in head-centered coordinates are mapped via
learning to a gaze motor error in motor error coordinates.
This transformation is functionally rationalized by the fact that
calibration between visual inputs and eye movement commands is learned
early in development within a visually reactive saccade system
(Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 ). The accuracy of multimodal and
planned saccades in the model can build on the gains learned by the
visually reactive system. Auditory and planned movements need, however,
to take precedence over visually reactive movements when circumstances
require. For these properties to be achieved, a transformation between
head-centered and retinotopic target representations needs to be
learned. Targets in retinotopic and head-centered coordinates are
rendered dimensionally consistent when both are transformed into motor
error coordinates and they compete for attention to select a movement
command.
The SACCART neural network model developed here shows that the
map-learning process that combines visually attentive, auditory, and
planned saccade commands provides a functional rationale for both burst
and buildup cell activity patterns and provides fits to data from these
cells in visual, overlap, memory, and gap behavioral paradigms (Munoz
and Wurtz, 1995a ,b ), as well as an explanation of enhancement and
depression effects caused by multimodal convergence and divergence
(Stein and Meredith, 1993 ). The model hereby provides a conceptual
bridge by which to link behavioral to biochemical manipulations of the
NMDA receptors that exist at multimodal SC cells (Binns and Salt, 1996 )
to test predicted effects on SC burst and buildup cells. In particular,
the model predicts how these NMDA receptors may be involved in learning
the map that links auditory, visually attentive, and planned saccade
commands from the parietal and frontal cortices to the SC. This
predicted linkage between behavior, neurophysiology, and biochemistry
may help to establish the deeper SC layers as an important new paradigm
for studying the neural substrates of associative learning.
Rucci et al. (1997) have modeled how auditory and visual maps may get
aligned in the optic tectum of the barn owl, which is homologous to the
superior colliculus. Their model assumes that the eyes are fixed in a
movable head, and thus all computations are done in head-centered
coordinates. Adaptive transformations to the motor error coordinates
that are known to occur in superior colliculus are not considered. The
model also does not analyze how multiple visual, auditory, and planned
cues can simultaneously compete for attentional resources before the
winning location triggers learned changes in path weights. Instead, it
assumes that visual foveation of a target activates a nonspecific
now-print learning signal (Miller, 1963 ; Livingston, 1967 ; Estes, 1969 ; Grossberg, 1974 , 1982 ) that is used to influence learning outside of
the optic tectum. As a result, the model does not focus on the internal
dynamics of optic tectum, including possible analogs of burst and
buildup cells. It remains to be seen how a nonspecific now-print
learning signal generalizes to the case in which the eye is free to
move within the head in the presence of multiple, simultaneously active
visual, auditory, and planned cues.
Although the SACCART model presented here assumes that the planned
input is stored in head-centered coordinates before being transformed
into motor error coordinates, data on parietal cortex support at least
two different viewpoints. The data of Andersen et al. (1990)
demonstrated how motor information in the parietal cortex is modulated
by a planar gain field that is influenced by eye position and suggested
how this information reflects head-centered coordinates. In contrast,
Colby et al. (1992) suggested that motor information is stored in an
oculocentric representation that is updated with each saccade. It is
important to point out that the collicular core of the model can accept
the existence of planned target representations in either
representation, because the adaptive process between the planned target
spatial map and the spreading wave layer aligns both maps in motor
error coordinates, which are dimensionally consistent with retinotopic
coordinates. In fact, there is reason to question whether these views
are truly in competition; the parietal cortex may compute
retinotopically consistent vector representations as well as
head-centered target representations. Such dual coding may correspond
to the dual coding in frontal oculomotor areas. Schlag and Schlag-Rey
(1987) and Mann et al. (1988) have discovered mediofrontal areas that
code eye position targets in a head-based reference system, quite
unlike the saccadic vector representation formed in the frontal eye
fields.
Finally, it is important to note the effect predicted by the current
model in the event of a parietal lesion that interrupts the
transcortical feedback to the colliculus. The primary role of the
cortical projection to the SC is to allow attentive cortical selection
of the target, not to provide an input corresponding to residual motor
error. In fact, one effect of the model cortical input that creates the
spreading wave is to cooperate with the signals that could control the
saccade in the absence of cortical input. Thus according to the model,
if cortical input is interrupted, visually guided saccades can still
occur, but they would be expected to be hypometric. This outcome has
been reported for patients with posterior parietal cortical lesions
(Duhamel et al., 1992 ). This prediction contrasts sharply with any
model in which parietal cortex mediates negative feedback to the SC,
which would predict hypermetria after parietal lesions.
FOOTNOTES
Received May 27, 1997; revised Sept. 23, 1997; accepted Sept. 25, 1997.
This work was supported in part by Air Force Office of Scientific
Research Grant F49620-92-J-0499 (S.G. and K.R.), Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency Grant N00014-92-J-4015 (S.G. and K.R.), and
Office of Naval Research Grants N00014-92-J-1309 (S.G., K.R., M.A., and
D.B.) and N00014-95-1-0409 (S.G., K.R, and D.B.). We thank Diana Meyers
for her valuable assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Stephen Grossberg, Department
of Cognitive and Neural Systems and Center for Adaptive Systems, Boston
University, 677 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215.
Dr. Roberts's present address: Cognex, One Vision Drive, Natick, MA
01760.
Dr. Aguilar's present address: Machine Intelligence Group,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Labs, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA 02173.
APPENDIX
This section lists the mathematical equations and parameters of
the model.
Reactive pathway
The visually reactive pathway in the model learns to accurately
foveate visual targets. These visual targets are registered in a
retinotopic map, the peak decay (PD) layer. Reactive signals that
activate a region within this map topographically excite the
corresponding region in the spreading wave (SW) layer. The locus of
activation at the PD layer defines the direction and amplitude of a
saccadic movement.
Two sources of inhibition suppress irrelevant visually activated target
locations in this map. A nonspecific signal from the SW layer provides
a constant level of inhibition to the peak decay layer. In addition,
the model substantia nigra inhibits this layer but is released at the
topographic location K encoding the saccadic eye movement.
Excitatory feedback from the spreading wave to the PD layer, along with
the release of substantia nigra inhibition, overcomes the nonspecific
inhibition at the location encoding the target. Because all other
locations are inhibited, the selected location can remain active
throughout the saccade without interference from competing reactive
targets. This resonant activation between layers allows a target choice
to be made at the PD layer while interfering targets are suppressed. By
gaining access to the SW layer, planned saccade targets can suppress
saccades to reactive targets and instantiate the desired command.
This resonant circuitry at the peak decay layer is implemented by
defining the change in the activity level at each cell. The peak decay
cells (Pk) combine excitatory input
(Rk) reflecting the reactive target input
and excitatory input (Sk) from the
spreading wave layer. In addition, the peak decay cells are inhibited
by model mesencephalic reticular formation (MRF) input
[m( Sj)], by fixation cell
input from the rostral pole of the SW layer
(W1Fk), and by
model substantia nigra input (NPk).
The following membrane, or shunting, equation defines the change in
activity at the peak decay layer.
Peak decay
|
(1)
|
where the following functions obtain:
Reactive input
where K identifies the cell location encoding initial
gaze error.
SW signal function
MRF input
Spread of fixation cell inhibition
SNr input
and:
where:
and:
When the target is turned on, the reactive input
Rk excites the location at the peak decay
layer corresponding to the initial gaze motor error with a maximum
reactive input value. After the target is turned off or the eye begins
to move, the reactive input is shut off. Activity of each spreading
wave cell excites the corresponding peak decay cell via a sigmoid
function f(Sk). All of the input to this
function is in the slower-than-linear region of the sigmoid. Migration
of the spreading wave away from the initial location diminishes the
strength of the mutual excitation established with the PD layer,
causing the activity peak in this layer to decay.
Inhibitory input to this layer is provided from the MRF, the fixation
cell of the spreading wave layer, and the substantia nigra. The MRF
inhibits the entire peak decay layer if there is any activity at the
buildup cells of the spreading wave layer. If there is activity, the
MRF input to the peak decay layer is established at a constant level of
inhibition.
The fixation cell of the spreading wave layer inhibits cells at the
peak decay layer based on the distance between the fixation cell and
the peak decay cell. The fixation cell inhibits peak decay cells that
encode smaller initial gaze motor errors more strongly than peak decay
cells that encode larger errors. This stronger inhibition helps to
produce quicker decay in cells that encode smaller initial gaze motor
errors than in those that encode larger errors so that the complete
decay of activity coincides to eye fixation in both cases. When the
initial gaze motor error is small, eye fixation occurs quickly, and the
peak decay activity correspondingly returns to zero at this time. Thus
several factors work together to shut off the peak decay cells.
Inhibition from the substantia nigra decreases to the peak decay cell
encoding the initial gaze motor error once the fixation point is turned
off. After the first 150 time steps subsequent to fixation point
removal, the SNr inhibition begins to gradually decrease. After 375 time steps have passed, the SNr inhibition decreases more rapidly. The
effect of this SNr activity pattern produces an initial slow rise of
peak decay activity followed by a strong burst.
Head-centered pathway: auditory, visually attentive, or
planned saccades
The second pathway in the model provides the ability to perform
saccades to targets coded in head-centered coordinates. The case of
planned saccades will be discussed for definiteness. First, a planned
target signal is combined with the current eye position signal to
produce the gaze motor error vector. Next, the current gaze motor error
(Vh) is converted to a two-dimensional representation [X(r,q)]. Finally, this
planned target input is combined with the reactive target input at the
spreading wave layer.
From head-centered targets to motor difference vectors
At this stage, the combination of head-centered target coordinates
and eye position coordinates consists of a set of paired cell
populations coding the error between the two in vector coordinates. Each cell population is defined as part of an agonist-antagonist pair
coding a given degree of freedom of the oculomotor plant. For example,
a pair may code the horizontal degree of freedom; one member of the
pair codes activity of the muscle that pulls the eye to the right, and
the other codes activity of the muscle that pulls the eye to the left.
For simplicity, the oculomotor plant can be approximated by two degrees
of freedom, horizontal and vertical, so there are four cell populations
that define the muscle lengths of four muscles each of which control
up, down, left, or right movements in a two-dimensional plane in
head-centered coordinates. The current gaze motor error
Vh, where h = 0, 1, 2, or
3, corresponds to the vector difference between the desired muscle
length (xh*) and the current muscle length
(xh) (Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 ):
|
(2)
|
where:
Parameter A defines the amplitude of the desired eye
movement, and D is the direction of the movement in radians.
The average direction (Dh) coded by each
eye position vector element is:
|
(3)
|
The current muscle length is updated when the eye moves by
invoking the simplest possible movement rule, because events downstream from the SC are not the focus of the present work. A wide variety of
similar rules generate analogous results. It is assumed that the
current muscle length xh integrates
activity from the spreading wave layer:
|
(4)
|
if SJ exceeds the threshold
activation of 0.01. The value of J reflects the retinotopic
position of SJ, the maximum activity in
the spreading wave layer.
Next, the vector difference (Vh) is
converted from a one-dimensional to a two-dimensional map
representation [X(r, )], which can subsequently be input to the map in the spreading wave layer.
To transform a spatial vector into the corresponding location in a
spatial map, both weight and threshold gradients are used to map
incoming signals (Grossberg and Kuperstein, 1986 ). The gradients work
together to produce a single peak of activity at a location that
corresponds to the amplitude and direction coded by the input vector.
This connectivity maps higher activity levels in the vector stage to
locations on the caudal edge of the map, whereas lower activity levels
are mapped to locations closer to the rostral edge. The equations below
accomplish this transformation:
|
(5)
|
where the two-dimensional representation is defined in coordinates
of the amplitude r and direction of eye movement. The function [x]+ indicates that the value of
M(r, ) is set to 0 if it is
negative.
Functions Wh(r, ) and
(r, ) represent the gradient of weights and
thresholds, respectively. The weights reflect the path strength between
each of the elements (h) in the difference vector to each
position (r, ) in the two-dimensional representation:
|
(6)
|
The thresholds determine the level above which a signal is
permitted to generate activity and are a function of the amplitude (r) of the eye movement:
|
(7)
|
Evidence of similar gradients to the superior colliculus have been
reported by several authors (Jayaraman et al., 1977 ; Graybiel, 1978 ;
Huerta and Harting, 1986 ).
The two-dimensional activity is normalized to produce a single peak of
activity:
|
(8)
|
Equation 8 approximates the action of a recurrent on-center,
off-surround network (Grossberg, 1973 , 1982 ). Because the following simulations consider only horizontal eye movements, the value of was set to 1. Therefore, the subscript (r, ) is replaced by the subscript i in the following equations.
Spreading wave layer
Because the spatial representation of the planned target is
aligned with that of the reactive target, the two signals can be
combined at the jth cell in the spreading wave layer to
produce a change in the activity of a cell via a membrane, or shunting, equation (Grossberg, 1973 ). The spreading wave cell activities (Sj) can be classified into two different
types, fixation cells and buildup cells. Because these cells have
different inputs, they will be treated separately.
The buildup cells (Sj where 1 < j < N) combine excitatory input
(Xi) reflecting the planned target input and excitatory input Pk from the peak
decay cell layer. The inputs (Xi) are
multiplied, or gated, by transmitter weights
(Zij) that habituate in an
activity-dependent manner. In addition, the buildup cells are inhibited
by MRF input [m( Sj)],
fixation cell input (S1), and substantia
nigra input (NS) (Cohen and
Büttner-Ennever, 1984 ; Sparks and Hartwich-Young, 1989 ). The
following equation defines the change in the activity of cells at the
buildup layer.
Spreading wave (buildup cells)
|
(9)
|
where:
Habituative intermodal path strength
PD signal function
Spread of input from PD to SW
MRF input
SNr input
where
Feedback signal function
Surround weight
|
|
In greater detail, Equation 9 says that excitatory input to this
layer is provided from the planned target spatial map
2 i=1NZijXi,
the peak decay layer
4 kg(PkGk-j), and recurrent feedback 40c(Sj).
When the target is turned on, the planned target input excites a region
at the spreading wave layer with maximum activity corresponding to the
initial gaze motor error. The planned input to this layer remains even after the target is turned off or the eye begins to move. The peak
decay layer is designed so that only one cell in the sum 4 kg(PkGk-j)
is positive at any time. Activity of each peak decay cell excites the
corresponding spreading wave cell via a sigmoid and a Gaussian
function. The peak decay input reaches several neighboring cells at the
spreading wave layer with a Gaussian spread of activity. All of this
peak decay input excites the spreading wave cells via a sigmoid
function. An excitatory term
c(Sj) incorporates on-center
feedback using a nonlinear signal function.
Inhibitory input
40m( j>1NSj)
to this layer is also provided from the MRF, the fixation cell
0.8S1 of the spreading wave layer, and the
substantia nigra 50NS as in the
peak decay layer. The MRF inhibits the entire buildup wave layer at a
constant level if there is any activity at the buildup cells. The SNr
inhibition is applied equally to all of the spreading wave cells in the
path of the wave. In addition, c(Sk)Hk-j
reflects that the off-surround inhibition is distance-dependent and is
weighted by a Gaussian function Hk-j.
The fixation cells (Sj, where
j = 1) combine excitatory input (F)
reflecting fixation input and weighted excitatory input
(2 i=1NZijXi)
from the spatial error map. In addition, the fixation cells are
inhibited by buildup cell input
10 j>1NSjIj,
and peak decay cell input
10 k>1NPk.
The buildup cell inhibition is distance-dependent. The following
equation defines the change in activity of fixation cells at the
buildup layer.
Spreading wave (fixation cells)
|
(10)
|
where
Fixation input
SW buildup input kernel
Intermodal map learning
For the multimodal and planned pathways to gain access to the
visually reactive pathway, the different coordinate systems of these
pathways are adaptively aligned via associative learning. This learning
process needs to be stable through time, despite the possible
interference from multiple sensory cues. In addition, the eye movement
calibration learned by the visually reactive pathway at the cerebellar
adaptive gain stage needs to be maintained after multimodal
learning.
Multimodal and planned signals are relayed to the SW layer where they
compete for attention with visually reactive saccades via the recurrent
on-center off-surround interactions in Equation 9. Learning occurs
between the motor error map of each multimodal and planned input source
and the SW layer. After the learning process begins, it is stabilized
by the congruence of saccade commands from multimodal and visually
reactive pathways. If multimodal and visually reactive positions agree,
then learning reinforces the current map alignment. If the commands
disagree, then both learning and the distracting saccade target are
suppressed by their mismatch.
The equations for one such learned map are shown below. Each map is
determined by the same mechanisms but can use its own motor difference
vector to map into the SW layer. Learning proceeds according to the
following associative learning rule, which is often called the outstar
learning rule (Grossberg, 1968 , 1969 ):
|
(11)
|
where:
and:
Variable zij in Equation 11 defines
the strength of the learned connection between the ith cell
in the multimodal map, the activity of which is
Xi, and the jth cell of the SW
layer. The kth cell in the PD layer
(Pk) acts as a teaching signal and is
input to the SW layer using a Gaussian spread
(Gk-j). The adaptive weights
zij all start out with the same value.
When Xi is sufficiently active,
n(Xi) > 0 in Equation 11, so
learning commences. The term
n(Xi) > 0 hereby
gates learning on and off. When
n(Xi) > 0, the adaptive weight
tracks the teaching signal
p(PkGk-j).
Such tracking behavior is called steepest descent. Thus the
outstar learning rule is a gated steepest descent law. In particular,
whenever the intermodal and visually reactive targets agree, both
n(Xi) and
p(PkGk-j) are positive,
and the weight zij converges toward the PD
activity Pk that is projected to site
j in the SW layer. The weights
zij are bounded because the PD layer input
(Pk) is bounded by 1.2, the upper bound of
the excitatory term in Equation 1. Learning continues until the
intermodal target input becomes aligned with the visually reactive PD
that projects to the SW. The learning rate is = 0.5 in Equation 11.
Learning is sped up and rendered more robust when the intermodal
spatial map can sample neighboring locations in the SW layer. As
described above, the excitatory input from the PD layer to the SW layer
shows a Gaussian fall-off. In addition, the gating input
n(Xi) is active
over a broad region. The spatial distribution of the predictive and PD
inputs enables learning to interpolate across several map locations. As
a result, distributed learning of the entire map can occur using only a
small set of sampled positions.
Three conditions cooperate to achieve stable learning. First, only one
visually reactive target is active at the PD layer during learning.
Second, the gaze motor error vector remains fixed during the beginning
of the target presentation. This period is when most of the learning
occurs. Third, the learning rate parameter is small so that
spurious learning is compensated by statistically reliable
correlations.
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