Sequential activity of simultaneously recorded neurons in the superior colliculus during curved saccades

Abstract

taneously recorded neurons in the superior colliculus during curved saccades. J Neurophysiol 90: 1887–1903, 2003; 10.1152/jn.01151.2002. The visual world presents multiple potential targets that can be brought to the fovea by saccadic eye movements. These targets produce activity at multiple sites on a movement map in the superior colliculus (SC), an area of the brain related to saccade generation. The saccade made must result from competition between the populations of neurons representing these many saccadic goals, and in the present experiments we used multiple moveable microelectrodes to follow this competition. We recorded si-multaneously from two sites on the SC map where each site was related to a different saccade target. The two targets appeared in rapid sequence, and the monkey was rewarded for making a saccade toward the one appearing first. Our study concentrated on trials in which the monkey made strongly curved saccades that were directed first toward one target and then toward the other. These curved saccades activated both sites o