Neural Control of Eye Movement

感觉皮层和运动皮质通过处理视觉来提供运动的视觉指导 并提供对这些输入到达皮质下运动神经回路的强度的自动调节。这个 目前的建议使用平滑追踪眼球运动来询问视觉和运动皮质如何相互作用来产生 流畅的追逐眼球运动。首先，它将研究“增益控制”的神经基础。在追逐中，顺畅的 前庭眼场眼动区(FEFSEM)调节着追逐的视觉驱动强度。 来自感觉区MT、运动区FEFSEM和他们的脑干目标的录音将询问如何获得控制权 表示a)当目标在追逐或注视过程中受到干扰时，以及b)对于高对比度和低对比度 对比视觉刺激，在开始追逐时产生高和低的增益。第二，这项研究将 评估追踪潜伏期的神经基础。它将在初步数据显示逐个试验的基础上进行扩展 MT的神经功能与追踪潜伏期的关系它将询问是否潜伏期或响应幅度 FEFSEM与追踪潜伏期有较好的相关性。它还将记录从两个结构中的多个单个神经元到 记录整个群体中延迟的相关性有多强。第三，拟议的研究将 同时记录MT和FEFSEM中的多个单个神经元以确定其性质 两个区域之间的功能连接，并提供限制信号如何的数据 当它们从大脑皮层的感觉区域移动到运动区时，它们会发生变化。综合计算分析将 通过回答以下关键问题告知实验方法：1)MT区域的输出情况如何 同时用于估计目标运动的速度和方向，并确定目标运动的强度 运动系统应权衡感觉证据；2)MT、FEFSEM和 下游马达系统，以及该系统如何解释平均值、变异和相关性 3)MT和FEFSEM是如何交互作用来控制追踪潜伏期的。这个 拟议的研究将朝着了解赛道内的多个地点如何 追逐眼球运动协调运动的视觉引导。

Sensory and motor cortices cooperate to provide the visual guidance of movement by processing visual inputs and providing voluntary modulation of how strongly those inputs reach sub-cortical motor circuits. The present proposal uses smooth pursuit eye movements to ask how visual and motor cortex interact to produce smooth pursuit eye movements. First, it will study the neural basis for “gain-control”. In pursuit, the smooth eye movement region of the frontal eye fields (FEFSEM) modulates the strength of visual-drive for pursuit. Recordings from sensory area MT, motor area FEFSEM, and their brainstem targets will ask how gain control is represented a) when a target is perturbed during pursuit or fixation and b) for high-contrast and low- contrast visual stimuli, which produce high and low gains in the initiation of pursuit. Second, the research will evaluate the neural basis for pursuit latency. It will expand on preliminary data showing a trial-by-trial relationship between neural and pursuit latency in MT. It will ask whether latency or response amplitude in FEFSEM is better related to pursuit latency. It also will record from multiple single neurons in both structures to document how strongly the latencies are correlated across the population. Third, the proposed research will record simultaneously from multiple single neurons in MT and FEFSEM to determine the nature of the functional connectivity between the two areas, and to provide data that constrain how signals are transformed as they move from sensory to motor areas of the cortex. Integrated computational analyses will inform the experimental approaches by answering key questions such as: 1) how is the output from area MT used simultaneously to estimate the speed and direction of target motion and to determine how strongly the motor system should weight sensory evidence; 2) what is the functional connectivity among MT, FEFSEM, and the downstream motor system, and how can the system account for the mean, variation, and correlations among neural and behavioral responses; 3) How do MT and FEFSEM interact to control pursuit latency. The proposed research will make large steps towards understanding how multiple sites within the circuit for pursuit eye movements coordinate visual guidance of movement.