RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Microstimulation of the Midbrain Tegmentum Creates Learning Signals for Saccade Adaptation JF The Journal of Neuroscience JO J. Neurosci. FD Society for Neuroscience SP 3759 OP 3767 DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4958-06.2007 VO 27 IS 14 A1 Kojima, Yoshiko A1 Yoshida, Kaoru A1 Iwamoto, Yoshiki YR 2007 UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/27/14/3759.abstract AB Error signals are vital to motor learning. However, we know little about pathways that transmit error signals for learning in voluntary movements. Here we show that microstimulation of the midbrain tegmentum can induce learning in saccadic eye movements in monkeys. Weak electrical stimuli delivered ∼200 ms after saccades in one horizontal direction produced gradual and marked changes in saccade gain. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the produced changes were similar to those of adaptation induced by real visual error. When stimulation was applied after saccades in two different directions, endpoints of these saccades gradually shifted in the same direction in two dimensions. We conclude that microstimulation created powerful learning signals that dictate the direction of adaptive shift in movement endpoints. Our findings suggest that the error signals for saccade adaptation are conveyed in a pathway that courses through the midbrain tegmentum.