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Caziot B, Cooper B, Harwood MR, McPeek RM. Physiological correlates of a simple saccadic-decision task to extended objects in superior colliculus. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.09.584223. [PMID: 38559019 PMCID: PMC10979857 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.09.584223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Our vision is best only in the center of our gaze, and we use saccadic eye movements to direct gaze to objects and features of interest. We make more than 180,000 saccades per day, and accurate and efficient saccades are crucial for most visuo-motor tasks. Saccades are typically studied using small point stimuli, despite the fact that most real-world visual scenes are composed of extended objects. Recent studies in humans have shown that the initiation latency of saccades is strongly dependent on the size of the target (the "size-latency effect"), perhaps reflecting a tradeoff between the cost of making a saccade to a target and the expected information gain that would result. Here, we investigate the neuronal correlates of the size-latency effect in the macaque superior colliculus. We analyzed the latency variations of saccades to different size targets within a stochastic accumulator model framework. The model predicted a steeper increase in activity for smaller targets compared to larger ones. Surprisingly, the model also predicted an increase in saccade initiation threshold for larger targets. We found that the activity of intermediate-layer SC visuomotor neurons is in close agreement with the model predictions. We also found evidence that these effects may be a consequence of the visual responses of SC neurons to targets of different sizes. These results shed new light on the sources of delay within the saccadic system, a system that we heavily depend upon in the performance of most visuo-motor tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- B. Caziot
- Graduate Center for Vision Research, Department of Biological and Vision Sciences, SUNY College of Optometry, 33 West 42 Street, New York, NY, 10036, USA
- Neurophysics Department, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 8A Karl-von-Frisch-Straße, 35043 Marburg, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps-Universität Marburg and Justus–Liebig–Universität Gießen, Gießen, Germany
| | - B. Cooper
- Graduate Center for Vision Research, Department of Biological and Vision Sciences, SUNY College of Optometry, 33 West 42 Street, New York, NY, 10036, USA
| | - M. R. Harwood
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of East London, London, UK
| | - R. M. McPeek
- Graduate Center for Vision Research, Department of Biological and Vision Sciences, SUNY College of Optometry, 33 West 42 Street, New York, NY, 10036, USA
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Fracasso A, Buonocore A, Hafed ZM. Peri-Saccadic Orientation Identification Performance and Visual Neural Sensitivity Are Higher in the Upper Visual Field. J Neurosci 2023; 43:6884-6897. [PMID: 37640553 PMCID: PMC10573757 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1740-22.2023] [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: 09/11/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Visual neural processing is distributed among a multitude of sensory and sensory-motor brain areas exhibiting varying degrees of functional specializations and spatial representational anisotropies. Such diversity raises the question of how perceptual performance is determined, at any one moment in time, during natural active visual behavior. Here, exploiting a known dichotomy between the primary visual cortex (V1) and superior colliculus (SC) in representing either the upper or lower visual fields, we asked whether peri-saccadic orientation identification performance is dominated by one or the other spatial anisotropy. Humans (48 participants, 29 females) reported the orientation of peri-saccadic upper visual field stimuli significantly better than lower visual field stimuli, unlike their performance during steady-state gaze fixation, and contrary to expected perceptual superiority in the lower visual field in the absence of saccades. Consistent with this, peri-saccadic superior colliculus visual neural responses in two male rhesus macaque monkeys were also significantly stronger in the upper visual field than in the lower visual field. Thus, peri-saccadic orientation identification performance is more in line with oculomotor, rather than visual, map spatial anisotropies.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Different brain areas respond to visual stimulation, but they differ in the degrees of functional specializations and spatial anisotropies that they exhibit. For example, the superior colliculus (SC) both responds to visual stimulation, like the primary visual cortex (V1), and controls oculomotor behavior. Compared with the primary visual cortex, the superior colliculus exhibits an opposite pattern of upper/lower visual field anisotropy, being more sensitive to the upper visual field. Here, we show that human peri-saccadic orientation identification performance is better in the upper compared with the lower visual field. Consistent with this, monkey superior colliculus visual neural responses to peri-saccadic stimuli follow a similar pattern. Our results indicate that peri-saccadic perceptual performance reflects oculomotor, rather than visual, map spatial anisotropies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessio Fracasso
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QE, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Antimo Buonocore
- Department of Educational, Psychological and Communication Sciences, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples 80135, Italy
| | - Ziad M Hafed
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tübingen University, Tübingen 72076, Germany
- Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen University, Tübingen 72076, Germany
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Abstract
The superior colliculus (SC) is a subcortical brain structure that is relevant for sensation, cognition, and action. In nonhuman primates, a rich history of studies has provided unprecedented detail about this structure's role in controlling orienting behaviors; as a result, the primate SC has become primarily regarded as a motor control structure. However, as in other species, the primate SC is also a highly visual structure: A fraction of its inputs is retinal and complemented by inputs from visual cortical areas, including the primary visual cortex. Motivated by this, recent investigations are revealing the rich visual pattern analysis capabilities of the primate SC, placing this structure in an ideal position to guide orienting movements. The anatomical proximity of the primate SC to both early visual inputs and final motor control apparatuses, as well as its ascending feedback projections to the cortex, affirms an important role for this structure in active perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziad M Hafed
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;
- Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Chih-Yang Chen
- Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan;
| | - Amarender R Bogadhi
- Central Nervous System Diseases Research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach, Germany;
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Zhang T, Malevich T, Baumann MP, Hafed ZM. Superior colliculus saccade motor bursts do not dictate movement kinematics. Commun Biol 2022; 5:1222. [DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04203-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractThe primate superior colliculus (SC) contains a topographic map of space, such that the anatomical location of active neurons defines a desired eye movement vector. Complementing such a spatial code, SC neurons also exhibit saccade-related bursts that are tightly synchronized with movement onset. Current models suggest that such bursts constitute a rate code dictating movement kinematics. Here, using two complementary approaches, we demonstrate a dissociation between the SC rate code and saccade kinematics. First, we show that SC burst strength systematically varies depending on whether saccades of the same amplitude are directed towards the upper or lower visual fields, but the movements themselves have similar kinematics. Second, we show that for the same saccade vector, when saccades are significantly slowed down by the absence of a visible saccade target, SC saccade-related burst strengths can be elevated rather than diminished. Thus, SC saccade-related motor bursts do not necessarily dictate movement kinematics.
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Severe distortion in the representation of foveal visual image locations in short-term memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2121860119. [PMID: 35675430 PMCID: PMC9214507 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2121860119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The foveal visual image region provides the human visual system with the highest acuity. However, it is unclear whether such a high fidelity representational advantage is maintained when foveal image locations are committed to short-term memory. Here, we describe a paradoxically large distortion in foveal target location recall by humans. We briefly presented small, but high contrast, points of light at eccentricities ranging from 0.1 to 12°, while subjects maintained their line of sight on a stable target. After a brief memory period, the subjects indicated the remembered target locations via computer controlled cursors. The biggest localization errors, in terms of both directional deviations and amplitude percentage overshoots or undershoots, occurred for the most foveal targets, and such distortions were still present, albeit with qualitatively different patterns, when subjects shifted their gaze to indicate the remembered target locations. Foveal visual images are severely distorted in short-term memory.
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Goettker A, Gegenfurtner KR. A change in perspective: The interaction of saccadic and pursuit eye movements in oculomotor control and perception. Vision Res 2021; 188:283-296. [PMID: 34489101 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 07/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Due to the close relationship between oculomotor behavior and visual processing, eye movements have been studied in many different areas of research over the last few decades. While these studies have brought interesting insights, specialization within each research area comes at the potential cost of a narrow and isolated view of the oculomotor system. In this review, we want to expand this perspective by looking at the interactions between the two most important types of voluntary eye movements: saccades and pursuit. Recent evidence indicates multiple interactions and shared signals at the behavioral and neurophysiological level for oculomotor control and for visual perception during pursuit and saccades. Oculomotor control seems to be based on shared position- and velocity-related information, which leads to multiple behavioral interactions and synergies. The distinction between position- and velocity-related information seems to be also present at the neurophysiological level. In addition, visual perception seems to be based on shared efferent signals about upcoming eye positions and velocities, which are to some degree independent of the actual oculomotor response. This review suggests an interactive perspective on the oculomotor system, based mainly on different types of sensory input, and less so on separate subsystems for saccadic or pursuit eye movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Goettker
- Abteilung Allgemeine Psychologie and Center for Mind, Brain & Behavior, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
| | - Karl R Gegenfurtner
- Abteilung Allgemeine Psychologie and Center for Mind, Brain & Behavior, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany
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Isa T, Marquez-Legorreta E, Grillner S, Scott EK. The tectum/superior colliculus as the vertebrate solution for spatial sensory integration and action. Curr Biol 2021; 31:R741-R762. [PMID: 34102128 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
The superior colliculus, or tectum in the case of non-mammalian vertebrates, is a part of the brain that registers events in the surrounding space, often through vision and hearing, but also through electrosensation, infrared detection, and other sensory modalities in diverse vertebrate lineages. This information is used to form maps of the surrounding space and the positions of different salient stimuli in relation to the individual. The sensory maps are arranged in layers with visual input in the uppermost layer, other senses in deeper positions, and a spatially aligned motor map in the deepest layer. Here, we will review the organization and intrinsic function of the tectum/superior colliculus and the information that is processed within tectal circuits. We will also discuss tectal/superior colliculus outputs that are conveyed directly to downstream motor circuits or via the thalamus to cortical areas to control various aspects of behavior. The tectum/superior colliculus is evolutionarily conserved among all vertebrates, but tailored to the sensory specialties of each lineage, and its roles have shifted with the emergence of the cerebral cortex in mammals. We will illustrate both the conserved and divergent properties of the tectum/superior colliculus through vertebrate evolution by comparing tectal processing in lampreys belonging to the oldest group of extant vertebrates, larval zebrafish, rodents, and other vertebrates including primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tadashi Isa
- Department of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan; Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
| | | | - Sten Grillner
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm SE-17177, Sweden
| | - Ethan K Scott
- The Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
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Hafed ZM, Chen CY, Tian X, Baumann MP, Zhang T. Active vision at the foveal scale in the primate superior colliculus. J Neurophysiol 2021; 125:1121-1138. [PMID: 33534661 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00724.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The primate superior colliculus (SC) has recently been shown to possess both a large foveal representation as well as a varied visual processing repertoire. This structure is also known to contribute to eye movement generation. Here, we describe our current understanding of how SC visual and movement-related signals interact within the realm of small eye movements associated with the foveal scale of visuomotor behavior. Within the SC's foveal representation, there is a full spectrum of visual, visual-motor, and motor-related discharge for fixational eye movements. Moreover, a substantial number of neurons only emit movement-related discharge when microsaccades are visually guided, but not when similar movements are generated toward a blank. This represents a particularly striking example of integrating vision and action at the foveal scale. Beyond that, SC visual responses themselves are strongly modulated, and in multiple ways, by the occurrence of small eye movements. Intriguingly, this impact can extend to eccentricities well beyond the fovea, causing both sensitivity enhancement and suppression in the periphery. Because of large foveal magnification of neural tissue, such long-range eccentricity effects are neurally warped into smaller differences in anatomical space, providing a structural means for linking peripheral and foveal visual modulations around fixational eye movements. Finally, even the retinal-image visual flows associated with tiny fixational eye movements are signaled fairly faithfully by peripheral SC neurons with relatively large receptive fields. These results demonstrate how studying active vision at the foveal scale represents an opportunity for understanding primate vision during natural behaviors involving ever-present foveating eye movements.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The primate superior colliculus (SC) is ideally suited for active vision at the foveal scale: it enables detailed foveal visual analysis by accurately driving small eye movements, and it also possesses a visual processing machinery that is sensitive to active eye movement behavior. Studying active vision at the foveal scale in the primate SC is informative for broader aspects of active perception, including the overt and covert processing of peripheral extra-foveal visual scene locations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziad M Hafed
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany.,Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Chih-Yang Chen
- Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Xiaoguang Tian
- University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Matthias P Baumann
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany.,Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Tong Zhang
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany.,Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany
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Gruber LZ, Ahissar E. Closed loop motor-sensory dynamics in human vision. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0240660. [PMID: 33057398 PMCID: PMC7561174 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Vision is obtained with a continuous motion of the eyes. The kinematic analysis of eye motion, during any visual or ocular task, typically reveals two (kinematic) components: saccades, which quickly replace the visual content in the retinal fovea, and drifts, which slowly scan the image after each saccade. While the saccadic exchange of regions of interest (ROIs) is commonly considered to be included in motor-sensory closed-loops, it is commonly assumed that drifts function in an open-loop manner, that is, independent of the concurrent visual input. Accordingly, visual perception is assumed to be based on a sequence of open-loop processes, each initiated by a saccade-triggered retinal snapshot. Here we directly challenged this assumption by testing the dependency of drift kinematics on concurrent visual inputs using real-time gaze-contingent-display. Our results demonstrate a dependency of the trajectory on the concurrent visual input, convergence of speed to condition-specific values and maintenance of selected drift-related motor-sensory controlled variables, all strongly indicative of drifts being included in a closed-loop brain-world process, and thus suggesting that vision is inherently a closed-loop process.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ehud Ahissar
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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10
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Malevich T, Buonocore A, Hafed ZM. Rapid stimulus-driven modulation of slow ocular position drifts. eLife 2020; 9:e57595. [PMID: 32758358 PMCID: PMC7442486 DOI: 10.7554/elife.57595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The eyes are never still during maintained gaze fixation. When microsaccades are not occurring, ocular position exhibits continuous slow changes, often referred to as drifts. Unlike microsaccades, drifts remain to be viewed as largely random eye movements. Here we found that ocular position drifts can, instead, be very systematically stimulus-driven, and with very short latencies. We used highly precise eye tracking in three well trained macaque monkeys and found that even fleeting (~8 ms duration) stimulus presentations can robustly trigger transient and stimulus-specific modulations of ocular position drifts, and with only approximately 60 ms latency. Such drift responses are binocular, and they are most effectively elicited with large stimuli of low spatial frequency. Intriguingly, the drift responses exhibit some image pattern selectivity, and they are not explained by convergence responses, pupil constrictions, head movements, or starting eye positions. Ocular position drifts have very rapid access to exogenous visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatiana Malevich
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tuebingen UniversityTuebingenGermany
- Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tuebingen UniversityTuebingenGermany
- Graduate School of Neural and Behavioural Sciences, International Max-Planck Research School, Tuebingen UniversityTuebingenGermany
| | - Antimo Buonocore
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tuebingen UniversityTuebingenGermany
- Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tuebingen UniversityTuebingenGermany
| | - Ziad M Hafed
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tuebingen UniversityTuebingenGermany
- Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tuebingen UniversityTuebingenGermany
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