Superior colliculus drives stimulus-evoked directionally biased saccades and attempted head movements in head-fixed mice.

ABSTRACT: Animals investigate their environments by directing their gaze towards salient stimuli. In the prevailing view, mouse gaze shifts entail head rotations followed by brainstem-mediated eye movements, including saccades to reset the eyes. These 'recentering' saccades are attributed to head movement-related vestibular cues. However, microstimulating mouse superior colliculus (SC) elicits directed head and eye movements resembling SC-dependent sensory-guided gaze shifts in other species, suggesting that mouse gaze shifts may be more flexible than has been recognized. We investigated this possibility by tracking eye and attempted head movements in a head-fixed preparation that eliminates head movement-related sensory cues. We found tactile stimuli evoke directionally biased saccades coincident w

SUBMITTER: Zahler SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8747496 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature