The Effect of Microsaccades on the Correlation Between Neural Activity and Behavior in Middle Temporal, Ventral Intraparietal, and Lateral Intraparietal Areas

Overview

Journal J Neurosci

Specialty Neurology

Date 2009 May 8

PMID 19420247

Citations 57

Authors

Todd M Herrington

Nicolas Y Masse

Karim J Hachmeh

Jackson E T Smith

John A Assad

Erik P Cook

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

It is widely reported that the activity of single neurons in visual cortex is correlated with the perceptual decision of the subject. The strength of this correlation has implications for the neuronal populations generating the percepts. Here we asked whether microsaccades, which are small, involuntary eye movements, contribute to the correlation between neural activity and behavior. We analyzed data from three different visual detection experiments, with neural recordings from the middle temporal (MT), lateral intraparietal (LIP), and ventral intraparietal (VIP) areas. All three experiments used random dot motion stimuli, with the animals required to detect a transient or sustained change in the speed or strength of motion. We found that microsaccades suppressed neural activity and inhibited detection of the motion stimulus, contributing to the correlation between neural activity and detection behavior. Microsaccades accounted for as much as 19% of the correlation for area MT, 21% for area LIP, and 17% for VIP. While microsaccades only explain part of the correlation between neural activity and behavior, their effect has implications when considering the neuronal populations underlying perceptual decisions.

Citing Articles

Organizing space through saccades and fixations between primate posterior parietal cortex and hippocampus.

Vericel M, Baraduc P, Duhamel J, Wirth S Nat Commun. 2024; 15(1):10448.

PMID: 39617769 PMC: 11609276. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54736-7.

Microsaccadic suppression of peripheral perceptual detection performance as a function of foveated visual image appearance.

Greilich J, Baumann M, Hafed Z J Vis. 2024; 24(11):3.

PMID: 39365250 PMC: 11457924. DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.11.3.

Laamerad P, Liu L, Pack C Sci Adv. 2024; 10(22):eadk7214.

PMID: 38809984 PMC: 11135405. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk7214.

Brain-wide neural activity underlying memory-guided movement.

Chen S, Liu Y, Wang Z, Colonell J, Liu L, Hou H Cell. 2024; 187(3):676-691.e16.

PMID: 38306983 PMC: 11492138. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.12.035.

Peripheral targets attenuate miniature eye movements during fixation.

Watamaniuk S, Badler J, Heinen S Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1):7418.

PMID: 37150766 PMC: 10164736. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-34066-2.

References

Zohary E, Shadlen M, Newsome W . Correlated neuronal discharge rate and its implications for psychophysical performance. Nature. 1994; 370(6485):140-3. DOI: 10.1038/370140a0. View

Masse N, Cook E . The effect of middle temporal spike phase on sensory encoding and correlates with behavior during a motion-detection task. J Neurosci. 2008; 28(6):1343-55. PMC: 6671567. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2775-07.2008. View

Bair W, Zohary E, Newsome W . Correlated firing in macaque visual area MT: time scales and relationship to behavior. J Neurosci. 2001; 21(5):1676-97. PMC: 6762960. View

Martinez-Conde S, Macknik S, Hubel D . The role of fixational eye movements in visual perception. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2004; 5(3):229-40. DOI: 10.1038/nrn1348. View

Shadlen M, Britten K, Newsome W, Movshon J . A computational analysis of the relationship between neuronal and behavioral responses to visual motion. J Neurosci. 1996; 16(4):1486-510. PMC: 6578557. View

Murakami I, Cavanagh P . A jitter after-effect reveals motion-based stabilization of vision. Nature. 1998; 395(6704):798-801. DOI: 10.1038/27435. View

Rucci M, Iovin R, Poletti M, Santini F . Miniature eye movements enhance fine spatial detail. Nature. 2007; 447(7146):851-4. DOI: 10.1038/nature05866. View

ZUBER B, Stark L, Cook G . Microsaccades and the velocity-amplitude relationship for saccadic eye movements. Science. 1965; 150(3702):1459-60. DOI: 10.1126/science.150.3702.1459. View

Parker A, Newsome W . Sense and the single neuron: probing the physiology of perception. Annu Rev Neurosci. 1998; 21:227-77. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.21.1.227. View

10.

Dodd J, Krug K, Cumming B, Parker A . Perceptually bistable three-dimensional figures evoke high choice probabilities in cortical area MT. J Neurosci. 2001; 21(13):4809-21. PMC: 6762355. View

11.

Maunsell J, Van Essen D . Functional properties of neurons in middle temporal visual area of the macaque monkey. I. Selectivity for stimulus direction, speed, and orientation. J Neurophysiol. 1983; 49(5):1127-47. DOI: 10.1152/jn.1983.49.5.1127. View

12.

Williams Z, Elfar J, Eskandar E, Toth L, Assad J . Parietal activity and the perceived direction of ambiguous apparent motion. Nat Neurosci. 2003; 6(6):616-23. DOI: 10.1038/nn1055. View

13.

Martinez-Conde S, Macknik S, Troncoso X, Dyar T . Microsaccades counteract visual fading during fixation. Neuron. 2006; 49(2):297-305. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.11.033. View

14.

Krug K, Cumming B, Parker A . Comparing perceptual signals of single V5/MT neurons in two binocular depth tasks. J Neurophysiol. 2004; 92(3):1586-96. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00851.2003. View

15.

Colby C, Duhamel J, Goldberg M . Visual, presaccadic, and cognitive activation of single neurons in monkey lateral intraparietal area. J Neurophysiol. 1996; 76(5):2841-52. DOI: 10.1152/jn.1996.76.5.2841. View

16.

Uka T, Tanabe S, Watanabe M, Fujita I . Neural correlates of fine depth discrimination in monkey inferior temporal cortex. J Neurosci. 2005; 25(46):10796-802. PMC: 6725857. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1637-05.2005. View

17.

Cook E, Maunsell J . Dynamics of neuronal responses in macaque MT and VIP during motion detection. Nat Neurosci. 2002; 5(10):985-94. DOI: 10.1038/nn924. View

18.

Bair W, OKeefe L . The influence of fixational eye movements on the response of neurons in area MT of the macaque. Vis Neurosci. 1998; 15(4):779-86. DOI: 10.1017/s0952523898154160. View

19.

Palmer C, Cheng S, Seidemann E . Linking neuronal and behavioral performance in a reaction-time visual detection task. J Neurosci. 2007; 27(30):8122-37. PMC: 2198904. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1940-07.2007. View

20.

Cook E, Maunsell J . Attentional modulation of behavioral performance and neuronal responses in middle temporal and ventral intraparietal areas of macaque monkey. J Neurosci. 2002; 22(5):1994-2004. PMC: 6758868. View