Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Information for Authors
    • Fees
    • Journal Clubs
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Neuroscience
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Neuroscience

Advanced Search

Submit a Manuscript
  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Information for Authors
    • Fees
    • Journal Clubs
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE
PreviousNext
Featured ArticleResearch Articles, Systems/Circuits

Neurons in Primate Area MSTd Signal Eye Movement Direction Inferred from Dynamic Perspective Cues in Optic Flow

Grace F. DiRisio, Yongsoo Ra, Yinghui Qiu, Akiyuki Anzai and Gregory C. DeAngelis
Journal of Neuroscience 15 March 2023, 43 (11) 1888-1904; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1885-22.2023
Grace F. DiRisio
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
4Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Grace F. DiRisio
Yongsoo Ra
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
2Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Yongsoo Ra
Yinghui Qiu
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
3College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-6401
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Akiyuki Anzai
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Gregory C. DeAngelis
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Gregory C. DeAngelis
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Smooth eye movements are common during natural viewing; we frequently rotate our eyes to track moving objects or to maintain fixation on an object during self-movement. Reliable information about smooth eye movements is crucial to various neural computations, such as estimating heading from optic flow or judging depth from motion parallax. While it is well established that extraretinal signals (e.g., efference copies of motor commands) carry critical information about eye velocity, the rotational optic flow field produced by eye rotations also carries valuable information. Although previous work has shown that dynamic perspective cues in optic flow can be used in computations that require estimates of eye velocity, it has remained unclear where and how the brain processes these visual cues and how they are integrated with extraretinal signals regarding eye rotation. We examined how neurons in the dorsal region of the medial superior temporal area (MSTd) of two male rhesus monkeys represent the direction of smooth pursuit eye movements based on both visual cues (dynamic perspective) and extraretinal signals. We find that most MSTd neurons have matched preferences for the direction of eye rotation based on visual and extraretinal signals. Moreover, neural responses to combinations of these signals are well predicted by a weighted linear summation model. These findings demonstrate a neural substrate for representing the velocity of smooth eye movements based on rotational optic flow and establish area MSTd as a key node for integrating visual and extraretinal signals into a more generalized representation of smooth eye movements.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We frequently rotate our eyes to smoothly track objects of interest during self-motion. Information about eye velocity is crucial for a variety of computations performed by the brain, including depth perception and heading perception. Traditionally, information about eye rotation has been thought to arise mainly from extraretinal signals, such as efference copies of motor commands. Previous work shows that eye velocity can also be inferred from rotational optic flow that accompanies smooth eye movements, but the neural origins of these visual signals about eye rotation have remained unknown. We demonstrate that macaque neurons signal the direction of smooth eye rotation based on visual signals, and that they integrate both visual and extraretinal signals regarding eye rotation in a congruent fashion.

  • eye movements
  • motion processing
  • optic flow
  • smooth pursuit
  • visual cortex

SfN exclusive license.

View Full Text

Member Log In

Log in using your username and password

Enter your Journal of Neuroscience username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
Back to top

In this issue

The Journal of Neuroscience: 43 (11)
Journal of Neuroscience
Vol. 43, Issue 11
15 Mar 2023
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Masthead (PDF)
Email

Thank you for sharing this Journal of Neuroscience article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Neurons in Primate Area MSTd Signal Eye Movement Direction Inferred from Dynamic Perspective Cues in Optic Flow
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of Neuroscience
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of Neuroscience.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Print
View Full Page PDF
Citation Tools
Neurons in Primate Area MSTd Signal Eye Movement Direction Inferred from Dynamic Perspective Cues in Optic Flow
Grace F. DiRisio, Yongsoo Ra, Yinghui Qiu, Akiyuki Anzai, Gregory C. DeAngelis
Journal of Neuroscience 15 March 2023, 43 (11) 1888-1904; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1885-22.2023

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Request Permissions
Share
Neurons in Primate Area MSTd Signal Eye Movement Direction Inferred from Dynamic Perspective Cues in Optic Flow
Grace F. DiRisio, Yongsoo Ra, Yinghui Qiu, Akiyuki Anzai, Gregory C. DeAngelis
Journal of Neuroscience 15 March 2023, 43 (11) 1888-1904; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1885-22.2023
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • Materials and Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Keywords

  • eye movements
  • motion processing
  • optic flow
  • smooth pursuit
  • visual cortex

Responses to this article

Respond to this article

Jump to comment:

No eLetters have been published for this article.

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

Research Articles

  • Axonal ER Ca2+ Release Selectively Enhances Activity-Independent Glutamate Release in a Huntington Disease Model
  • Sound improves neuronal encoding of visual stimuli in mouse primary visual cortex
  • Decoding of working memory contents in auditory cortex is not distractor-resistant
Show more Research Articles

Systems/Circuits

  • Axonal ER Ca2+ Release Selectively Enhances Activity-Independent Glutamate Release in a Huntington Disease Model
  • Sound improves neuronal encoding of visual stimuli in mouse primary visual cortex
  • Decoding of working memory contents in auditory cortex is not distractor-resistant
Show more Systems/Circuits
  • Home
  • Alerts
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Facebook
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on Twitter
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on LinkedIn
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Youtube
  • Follow our RSS feeds

Content

  • Early Release
  • Current Issue
  • Issue Archive
  • Collections

Information

  • For Authors
  • For Advertisers
  • For the Media
  • For Subscribers

About

  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
(JNeurosci logo)
(SfN logo)

Copyright © 2023 by the Society for Neuroscience.
JNeurosci Online ISSN: 1529-2401

The ideas and opinions expressed in JNeurosci do not necessarily reflect those of SfN or the JNeurosci Editorial Board. Publication of an advertisement or other product mention in JNeurosci should not be construed as an endorsement of the manufacturer’s claims. SfN does not assume any responsibility for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from or related to any use of any material contained in JNeurosci.