Parietal reach region encodes reach depth using retinal disparity and vergence angle signals.

ABSTRACT: Performing a visually guided reach requires the ability to perceive the egocentric distance of a target in three-dimensional space. Previous studies have shown that the parietal reach region (PRR) encodes the two-dimensional location of frontoparallel targets in an eye-centered reference frame. To investigate how a reach target is represented in three dimensions, we recorded the spiking activity of PRR neurons from two rhesus macaques trained to fixate and perform memory reaches to targets at different depths. Reach and fixation targets were configured to explore whether neural activity directly reflects egocentric distance as the amplitude of the required motor command, which is the absolute depth of the target, or rather the relative depth of the target with reference to fixation depth.

SUBMITTER: Bhattacharyya R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2724352 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature