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Xiao W, Sharma S, Kreiman G, Livingstone MS. Feature-selective responses in macaque visual cortex follow eye movements during natural vision. Nat Neurosci 2024; 27:1157-1166. [PMID: 38684892 PMCID: PMC11156562 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01631-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
In natural vision, primates actively move their eyes several times per second via saccades. It remains unclear whether, during this active looking, visual neurons exhibit classical retinotopic properties, anticipate gaze shifts or mirror the stable quality of perception, especially in complex natural scenes. Here, we let 13 monkeys freely view thousands of natural images across 4.6 million fixations, recorded 883 h of neuronal responses in six areas spanning primary visual to anterior inferior temporal cortex and analyzed spatial, temporal and featural selectivity in these responses. Face neurons tracked their receptive field contents, indicated by category-selective responses. Self-consistency analysis showed that general feature-selective responses also followed eye movements and remained gaze-dependent over seconds of viewing the same image. Computational models of feature-selective responses located retinotopic receptive fields during free viewing. We found limited evidence for feature-selective predictive remapping and no viewing-history integration. Thus, ventral visual neurons represent the world in a predominantly eye-centered reference frame during natural vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Will Xiao
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Saloni Sharma
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Gabriel Kreiman
- Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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Ambrad Giovannetti E, Rancz E. Behind mouse eyes: The function and control of eye movements in mice. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 161:105671. [PMID: 38604571 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
The mouse visual system has become the most popular model to study the cellular and circuit mechanisms of sensory processing. However, the importance of eye movements only started to be appreciated recently. Eye movements provide a basis for predictive sensing and deliver insights into various brain functions and dysfunctions. A plethora of knowledge on the central control of eye movements and their role in perception and behaviour arose from work on primates. However, an overview of various eye movements in mice and a comparison to primates is missing. Here, we review the eye movement types described to date in mice and compare them to those observed in primates. We discuss the central neuronal mechanisms for their generation and control. Furthermore, we review the mounting literature on eye movements in mice during head-fixed and freely moving behaviours. Finally, we highlight gaps in our understanding and suggest future directions for research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ede Rancz
- INMED, INSERM, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
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Singh VP, Li J, Mitchell J, Miller C. Active vision in freely moving marmosets using head-mounted eye tracking. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.11.593707. [PMID: 38766147 PMCID: PMC11100783 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.11.593707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Our understanding of how vision functions as primates actively navigate the real-world is remarkably sparse. As most data have been limited to chaired and typically head-restrained animals, the synergistic interactions of different motor actions/plans inherent to active sensing - e.g. eyes, head, posture, movement, etc. - on visual perception are largely unknown. To address this considerable gap in knowledge, we developed an innovative wireless head-mounted eye tracking system called CEREBRO for small mammals, such as marmoset monkeys. Our system performs Chair-free Eye-Recording using Backpack mounted micROcontrollers. Because eye illumination and environment lighting change continuously in natural contexts, we developed a segmentation artificial neural network to perform robust pupil tracking in these conditions. Leveraging this innovative system to investigate active vision, we demonstrate that although freely-moving marmosets exhibit frequent compensatory eye movements equivalent to other primates, including humans, the predictability of the visual system is enhanced when animals are freely-moving relative to when they are head-fixed. Moreover, despite increases in eye/head-motion during locomotion, gaze stabilization actually improved over periods when the monkeys were stationary. Rather than impair vision, the dynamics of gaze stabilization in freely-moving primates has been optimized over evolution to enable active sensing during natural exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikram Pal Singh
- Cortical Systems & Behavior Lab, University of California San Diego
| | - Jingwen Li
- Cortical Systems & Behavior Lab, University of California San Diego
| | - Jude Mitchell
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, University of Rochester
| | - Cory Miller
- Cortical Systems & Behavior Lab, University of California San Diego
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego
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Coop SH, Yates JL, Mitchell JF. Pre-saccadic Neural Enhancements in Marmoset Area MT. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e2034222023. [PMID: 38050176 PMCID: PMC10860570 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2034-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Each time we make an eye movement, attention moves before the eyes, resulting in a perceptual enhancement at the target. Recent psychophysical studies suggest that this pre-saccadic attention enhances the visual features at the saccade target, whereas covert attention causes only spatially selective enhancements. While previous nonhuman primate studies have found that pre-saccadic attention does enhance neural responses spatially, no studies have tested whether changes in neural tuning reflect an automatic feature enhancement. Here we examined pre-saccadic attention using a saccade foraging task developed for marmoset monkeys (one male and one female). We recorded from neurons in the middle temporal area with peripheral receptive fields that contained a motion stimulus, which would either be the target of a saccade or a distracter as a saccade was made to another location. We established that marmosets, like macaques, show enhanced pre-saccadic neural responses for saccades toward the receptive field, including increases in firing rate and motion information. We then examined if the specific changes in neural tuning might support feature enhancements for the target. Neurons exhibited diverse changes in tuning but predominantly showed additive and multiplicative increases that were uniformly applied across motion directions. These findings confirm that marmoset monkeys, like macaques, exhibit pre-saccadic neural enhancements during saccade foraging tasks with minimal training requirements. However, at the level of individual neurons, the lack of feature-tuned enhancements is similar to neural effects reported during covert spatial attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shanna H Coop
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester 14627-0268, New York
- Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester 14627-0268, New York
| | - Jacob L Yates
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester 14627-0268, New York
- Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester 14627-0268, New York
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, Maryland, 20742-5025
| | - Jude F Mitchell
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester 14627-0268, New York
- Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester 14627-0268, New York
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Parker PRL, Martins DM, Leonard ESP, Casey NM, Sharp SL, Abe ETT, Smear MC, Yates JL, Mitchell JF, Niell CM. A dynamic sequence of visual processing initiated by gaze shifts. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:2192-2202. [PMID: 37996524 PMCID: PMC11270614 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01481-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
Animals move their head and eyes as they explore the visual scene. Neural correlates of these movements have been found in rodent primary visual cortex (V1), but their sources and computational roles are unclear. We addressed this by combining head and eye movement measurements with neural recordings in freely moving mice. V1 neurons responded primarily to gaze shifts, where head movements are accompanied by saccadic eye movements, rather than to head movements where compensatory eye movements stabilize gaze. A variety of activity patterns followed gaze shifts and together these formed a temporal sequence that was absent in darkness. Gaze-shift responses resembled those evoked by sequentially flashed stimuli, suggesting a large component corresponds to onset of new visual input. Notably, neurons responded in a sequence that matches their spatial frequency bias, consistent with coarse-to-fine processing. Recordings in freely gazing marmosets revealed a similar sequence following saccades, also aligned to spatial frequency preference. Our results demonstrate that active vision in both mice and marmosets consists of a dynamic temporal sequence of neural activity associated with visual sampling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip R L Parker
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Dylan M Martins
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Emmalyn S P Leonard
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Nathan M Casey
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Shelby L Sharp
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Elliott T T Abe
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Matthew C Smear
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Jacob L Yates
- Department of Biology and Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
- Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Jude F Mitchell
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Center for Visual Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
| | - Cristopher M Niell
- Institute of Neuroscience and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
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