Quantitative Assessment of the Timing and Tuning of Visual-Related, Saccade-Related, and Delay Period Activity in Primate Central Thalamus

Wyder, Melanie T.; Massoglia, Dino; Stanford, Terrence R.

doi:10.1152/jn.00064.2003

Cited by 75 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…The location of cylinder was somewhat anterior to the previous studies that used rhesus monkeys [1][2][3][4] , since the stereotaxic coordinates of the motor thalamus extend more anteriorly in Japanese monkeys 5 . Animals received analgesia with either suppository acetaminophen or intramuscular injection of pentazocine after each surgery.…”

Section: Animal Preparationmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Since previous studies show no clear topography of eye movement signals in the ventrolateral thalamus 2,6 , the peripheral target was placed either 12° right or left of the central fixation throughout the experiments. In both the visually-guided saccade task and the externally triggered memory-guided task, monkeys were required to make a saccade within 400 ms after the offset of the fixation target (Supplementary Fig.…”

Section: Stimuli and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have demonstrated that neurons in the paralaminar part of the ventrolateral thalamus modulate their activity during the preparation as well as the execution of saccades [2][3][4] . To investigate possible roles of these signals in saccade generation, the present study examined effects of local inactivation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inactivation of the central thalamus delays self-timed saccades

Tanaka

2005

Nat Neurosci

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The central thalamus transmits corollary discharge signals for eye movement control, but its role in eye movement generation remains uncertain. Inactivation of the paralaminar part of the ventrolateral thalamus delayed the initiation of contraversive saccades, particularly during a novel memory-guided saccade task that required self-triggering of the movement. The results suggest that signals through the thalamus regulate the timing of self-initiated saccades.-3 -Although signals through the motor thalamus play crucial roles in the generation of somatic movements 1 , their roles in eye movement generation remain unknown. Previous studies have demonstrated that neurons in the paralaminar part of the ventrolateral thalamus modulate their activity during the preparation as well as the execution of saccades [2][3][4] . To investigate possible roles of these signals in saccade generation, the present study examined effects of local inactivation. All experimental protocols were approved in advance by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the Hokkaido University School of Medicine, and were in accordance with the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.Monkeys (n = 3) were trained to perform three saccade paradigms. In the visually-guided saccade paradigm (Fig. 1a, left), a central fixation target was extinguished at the time of peripheral target onset, and monkeys were required to make a saccade to the target within 400 ms. In the memory-guided saccade paradigm (Fig. 1a, middle), a peripheral target ('cue') was flashed briefly (200 ms) during fixation. Monkeys were required to maintain fixation for an additional 1,000-1,200 ms, and make a saccade to the cue location immediately after the offset of the fixation target (Supplementary Fig. 1). Because of a delay between offsets of the cue and fixation target, the direction and amplitude of saccades must be programmed based on internal signals that are related to the cue location. In this paradigm, however, the time of saccade initiation was instructed externally by the offset of the fixation target. The paradigm therefore will be referred to as an 'externally triggered' memory-guided saccade paradigm in this study; this is essentially identical to classic memory-guided saccade tasks in the literature 2,3,5 .A novel version of the memory-guided saccade paradigm required self-timing (Fig. 1a, right). It began like the classic memory-guided saccade task, but no overt instruction to move was given; instead, monkeys were required to make a saccade to the cue location 800-1,600 ms after the offset of the cue. The fixation target was extinguished immediately after initiation of the saccade, and the peripheral target reappeared 400 ms later and remained visible for an additional 800 ms -4 -( Supplementary Fig. 1). Monkeys were rewarded only when they generated a saccade within an 800-ms time window and when their eye position was within 5° from the peripheral target as long as it was visible. In this 'internally-triggered' memory-guided saccade paradigm, both...

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Section: Animal Preparationmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Stimuli and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inactivation of the central thalamus delays self-timed saccades

Tanaka

2005

Nat Neurosci

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“…Projections from the contralateral superior colliculus may hereby cross at tectal and thalamic levels (27,28). Indeed, electrophysiological work in primates indicates that corollary discharge-related activity at the thalamic level represents both ipsi-and contralateral saccades and eye positions (17,29). Patient studies using a double-step task noted contra-and bilateral impairments with thalamic lesions but also strictly ipsilateral deficits in several cases (14,30).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human thalamus contributes to perceptual stability across eye movements

Ostendorf¹,

Liebermann

Ploner³

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

104

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We continuously move our eyes when we inspect a visual scene. Although this leads to a rapid succession of discontinuous and fragmented retinal snapshots, we perceive the world as stable and coherent. Neural mechanisms underlying visual stability may depend on internal monitoring of planned or ongoing eye movements. In the macaque brain, a pathway for the transmission of such signals has been identified that is relayed by central thalamic nuclei. Here, we studied a possible role of this pathway for perceptual stability in a patient with a selective lesion affecting homologous regions of the human thalamus. Compared with controls, the patient exhibited a unilateral deficit in monitoring his eye movements. This deficit was manifest by a systematic inaccuracy both in successive eye movements and in judging the locations of visual stimuli. In addition, perceptual consequences of oculomotor targeting errors were erroneously attributed to external stimulus changes. These findings show that the human brain draws on transthalamic monitoring signals to bridge the perceptual discontinuities generated by our eye movements.saccade | corollary discharge | efference copy | extraretinal

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“…Previous studies showed that neurons in the central thalamus carried eye movement signals that were related to saccades, fixation, and eye or gaze position in space Schalg-Rey, 1984, 1986;Goldman-Rakic, 2003, 2004;Wyder et al, 2003;Sommer and Wurtz, 2004a;Watanabe and Funahashi, 2004). However, it remains unknown whether the central thalamus also transmits signals that are related to smooth pursuit eye movements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Involvement of the Central Thalamus in the Control of Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements

Tanaka¹

2005

J. Neurosci.

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During maintenance of smooth pursuit eye movements, the brain must keep track of pursuit velocity to reconstruct target velocity from motion of retinal images. Although a recent study showed that corollary discharge signals through the thalamus to the cortex are used for internal monitoring of saccades, it remains unknown whether signals in the thalamus also contribute to monitoring and on-line regulation of smooth pursuit. The present study sought possible roles of the thalamocortical pathways in pursuit by recording activities of single thalamic neurons and by analyzing the effects of local inactivation. Data showed that many neurons in the ventrolateral thalamus exhibited directional modulation during pursuit. Most neurons discharged before or during initiation of pursuit, and the firing rate was proportional to the speed of target motion in a preferred direction. When the tracking target was extinguished briefly during maintenance of pursuit, these neurons continued firing, indicating that they carried extra-retinal, eye movement signals. The majority of neurons showed no change in activity around the time of small catch-up saccades during pursuit but responded transiently to large (16°) memory-guided saccades in the preferred pursuit direction. Local inactivation of the recording sites did not alter pursuit latency but reduced eye velocity modestly during initiation and maintenance of ipsiversive pursuit. The results suggest that the central thalamus lies within pathways that regulate and monitor smooth pursuit eye movements.

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Quantitative Assessment of the Timing and Tuning of Visual-Related, Saccade-Related, and Delay Period Activity in Primate Central Thalamus

Cited by 75 publications

References 76 publications

Inactivation of the central thalamus delays self-timed saccades

Inactivation of the central thalamus delays self-timed saccades

Human thalamus contributes to perceptual stability across eye movements

Involvement of the Central Thalamus in the Control of Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements

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