Neuronal activity in cortical oculomotor areas during serial search task

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We analyzed neuronal activity in the supplementary eye field (SEF), supplementary motor area (SMA), and presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA) during the performance of three motor tasks : capturing a visual target with a saccade, reaching one arm to a target while gazing at a visual fixation point, or capturing a target with a saccade and arm-reach together. Our data demonstrated that each area was involved in controlling the arm and eye movements in a different manner. Saccade-related neurons were found mainly in the SEF. In contrast, arm-movement-related neurons were found primarily in the SMA and pre-SMA. In addition, we found that the activity of both arm-movement-related and saccade-related neurons differed, depending on the presence or absence of an accompanying saccade or arm movement. Such context dependency was found in all three areas. We also discovered that activity preceding eye or arm movement alone, and eye and arm movement combined, appeared more often in the pre-SMA and SEF, suggesting that involvement in effector-independent aspects of motor behavior. Subsequent analysis revealed that the laterality of arm representation differed in the three areas : it was predominantly contralateral in the SMA, but largely bilateral in the pre-SMA and SEF.