Abstract
The deeper layers of the superior colliculus are involved in the initiation and execution of saccadic (high velocity) eye movements1. A large population of coarsely tuned collicular neurons is active before each saccade. The mechanisms by which the signals that precisely control the direction and amplitude of a saccade are extracted from the activity of the population are unknown. It has been assumed2–6 that the exact trajectory of a saccade is determined by the activity of the entire population and that information is not extracted from only the most active cells in the population at a subsequent stage of neural processing. The trajectory of a saccade could be based on vector summation of the movement tendencies provided by each member of the population of active neurons4 or be determined by a weighted average of the vector contributions of each neuron in the active population2. Here we present the results of experiments in which a small subset of the active population was reversibly deactivated with lidocaine. These results are consistent with the predictions of the latter population-averaging hypothesis and support the general idea that the direction, amplitude and velocity of saccadic eye movements are based on the responses of the entire population of cells active before a saccadic eye movement.
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Lee, C., Rohrer, W. & Sparks, D. Population coding of saccadic eye movements by neurons in the superior colliculus. Nature 332, 357–360 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332357a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/332357a0
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