Dataset Information

Neural mechanisms underlying the temporal control of sequential saccade planning in the frontal eye field.

ABSTRACT: Sequences of saccadic eye movements are instrumental in navigating our visual environment. While neural activity has been shown to ramp up to a threshold before single saccades, the neural underpinnings of multiple saccades is unknown. To understand the neural control of saccade sequences, we recorded from the frontal eye field (FEF) of macaque monkeys while they performed a sequential saccade task. We show that the concurrent planning of two saccade plans brings forth processing bottlenecks, specifically by decreasing the growth rate and increasing the threshold of saccade-related ramping activity. The rate disruption affected both saccade plans, and a computational model, wherein activity related to the two saccade plans mutually and asymmetrically inhibited each other, predicted the behavioral and neural results observed experimentally. Borrowing from models in psychology, our results demonstrate a capacity-sharing mechanism of processing bottlenecks, wherein multiple saccade plans in a sequence compete for the processing capacity by the perturbation of the saccade-related ramping activity. Finally, we show that, in contrast to movement-related neurons, visual activity in FEF neurons is not affected by the presence of multiple saccade targets, indicating that, for perceptually simple tasks, inhibition within movement-related neurons mainly instantiates capacity sharing. Taken together, we show how psychology-inspired models of capacity sharing can be mapped onto neural responses to understand the control of rapid saccade sequences.

SUBMITTER: Basu D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8501878 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural mechanisms underlying the temporal control of sequential saccade planning in the frontal eye field.

Basu Debaleena D Sendhilnathan Naveen N Murthy Aditya A

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20211001 40

Sequences of saccadic eye movements are instrumental in navigating our visual environment. While neural activity has been shown to ramp up to a threshold before single saccades, the neural underpinnings of multiple saccades is unknown. To understand the neural control of saccade sequences, we recorded from the frontal eye field (FEF) of macaque monkeys while they performed a sequential saccade task. We show that the concurrent planning of two saccade plans brings forth processing bottlenecks, sp ...[more]

PMID: 34599104

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Dataset Information

Neural mechanisms underlying the temporal control of sequential saccade planning in the frontal eye field.

Publications

Neural mechanisms underlying the temporal control of sequential saccade planning in the frontal eye field.

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