Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:38:22.165Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of lateral geniculate nucleus, area V4, and middle temporal (MT) lesions on visually guided eye movements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Peter H. Schiller  and
Kyoungmin Lee
Peter H. Schiller
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Kyoungmin Lee
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Visually guided saccadic eye movements to singly presented stationary targets form a bimodal distribution. After superior colliculus lesions, the so called “express saccades” that form the first mode of the distribution are no longer obtained. The aim of this study was to determine what role several other neural systems play in the generation of express and regular saccades, with the latter being those that form the second mode in the bimodal distribution. Lesions were made in the parvocellular and magnocellular portions of the lateral geniculate nucleus to disrupt either the midget system or the parasol system that originates in the retina and areas V4 and MT. The effects of the lesions were examined on the accuracy and latency of saccadic eye movements made to stationary and to moving visual targets. Following magnocellular and MT lesions deficits were observed in smooth pursuit and in the amplitude of saccades made to moving targets. However, none of the lesions produced significant changes in the bimodal distribution of saccadic latencies to stationary targets. The results suggest that express saccades and regular saccades are not selectively mediated by either the midget or the parasol systems or by areas V4 and MT. Neither are the frontal eye fields involved as had previously been shown. We suggest that the superior colliculus plays a central role in producing both express and regular saccades by virtue of highly convergent input from numerous cortical structures.

Keywords

Visual systemExtrastriate cortexEye movements
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , March 1994 , pp. 229 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boch, R., Fischer, B. & Ramsperger, E. (1984). Express saccades of the monkey: Reaction times versus intensity, duration, and eccentricity of their targets. Experimental Brain Research 55, 223–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpenter, R.H.S. (1988). Movements of the Eyes. London, UK: Pion.Google Scholar
Dodge, R. (1903). Five types of eye movement in the horizontal meridian plane of the field of regard. American Journal of Physiology 8, 307–329.Google Scholar
Duersteller, M.R. & Wurtz, R.H. (1988). Pursuit and optokinetic deficits following chemical lesions of cortical areas MT and MST. Journal of Neurophysiology 60, 940–965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelman, J.A. & Keller, E.L. (1993). Visual activity in the deeper superior colliculus contributes to the initiation of express saccades. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Abstracts) #2140.Google Scholar
Fischer, B. & Boch, R. (1983). Saccadic eye movements after extremely short reaction times in the monkey. Brain Research 260, 21–26.Google Scholar
Fischer, B. & Weber, H. (1993). Express saccades and visual attention. Brain and Behavioral Sciences 16, 553–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hikosaka, O. & Wurtz, R.H. (1983). Visual and oculomotor function of monkey substantia nigra pars reticulata. IV. Relation of substantia nigra to superior colliculus. Journal of Neurophysiology 49, 1285–1301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mays, L.W. & Sparks, D.L. (1980). Dissociation of visual and saccaderelated responses in superior colliculus neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 43, 207–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merigan, W.H. & Maunsell, J.H.R. (1990). Macaque vision after magnocellular lateral geniculate lesions. Visual Neuroscience 5, 347–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miles, F.A., Kawano, K. & Optican, L.M. (1986). Short-latency ocular following response of monkey: I. Dependence on temporospatial properties of visual input. Journal of Neurophysiology 526, 1–54.Google Scholar
Newsome, W.T., Wurtz, R.H., Duersteller, M.R. & Mikami, A. (1985). Deficits in visual motion processing following ibotenic acid lesions of the middle temporal visual area of the macaque monkey. Journal of Neuroscience 5, 825–840.Google Scholar
Rashbass, C. (1961). The relationship between saccadic and smooth tracking eye movements. Journal of Physiology (London) 159, 326–338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohrer, W.H. & Sparks, D.L. (1986). Role of superior colliculus in the initiation of express saccades. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (Suppl.) 27, 156.Google Scholar
Schiller, P.H. (1984). The superior colliculus and visual function. In New Handbook of Physiology, ed. Darien-Smith, I., pp. 457–505. Bethesda, Maryland: American Physiological Society, Bethesda, Maryland.Google Scholar
Schiller, P.H. (1993). The effects of V4 and middle temporal (MT) area lesions on visual performance in the rhesus monkey. Visual Neuroscience 10, 717–746.Google Scholar
Schiller, P.H. & Koerner, F. (1971). Discharge characteristics of single units in the superior colliculus of the alert rhesus monkey. Journal of Neurophysiology 34, 920–936.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schiller, P.H. & Lee, K. (1991). The role of the primate extrastriate area V4 in vision. Science 251, 1251–1253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schiller, P.H. & Logothetis, N.K. (1990). The color-opponent and broad-band channels of the primate visual system. Trends in Neurosciences 13, 392–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schiller, P.H., Logothetis, N.K. & Charles, E.R. (1990). Role of the color-opponent and broad-band channels in vision. Visual Neuroscience 5, 321–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schiller, P.H., Sandell, J.H. & Maunsell, J.H.R. (1987). The effect of frontal eye field and superior colliculus lesions on saccadic latencies in the rhesus monkey. Journal of Neurophysiology 57, 1033–1049.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schiller, P.H., Malpeli, J.G. & Schein, S.J. (1979). Composition of the geniculostriate input to superior colliculus of the rhesus monkey. Journal of Neurophysiology 42, 1124–1133.Google Scholar
Schiller, P.H., Stryker, M., Cynader, M. & Berman, N. (1974). Response characteristics of single cells in the monkey superior colliculus following ablation or cooling of visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology 37, 181–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sommer, M. (1993). Express saccades elicited during visual scan in the monkey. Vision Research (submitted).Google Scholar
Sommer, M., Schiller, P.H. & McPeek, R. (1993). What neural pathways mediate express saccades? Brain and Behavioral Sciences (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, H., Fischer, B. & Latanov, A. (1992). Dead zone for express saccades. Experimental Brain Research 89, 214–222.Google Scholar
Weber, H., Fischer, B., Bach, M. & Aiple, F. (1991). Occurrence of express saccades under isoluminance and low-contrast luminance conditions. Visual Neuroscience 7, 505–510.Google Scholar
Wurtz, R.H., Goldberg, M.E. (1972). Activity of superior colliculus in behaving monkey. III. Cells discharging before eye movements. Journal of Neurophysiology 35, 575–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar