Role of the Superior Colliculus in Choosing Mixed-Strategy Saccades

Thevarajah, Dhushan; Mikulić, Areh; Dorris, Michael C.

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4764-08.2009

Cited by 39 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…S3). This finding thus suggests that inputs converge at the time of choice and is consistent with findings in animal literature of hybrid-type signals in sensory-motor regions (20).…”

Section: Rostral Acc Activity Uniquely Correlated With Belief-based Psupporting

confidence: 91%

Dissociable neural representations of reinforcement and belief prediction errors underlie strategic learning

Zhu¹,

Mathewson

Hsu

2012

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

115

156

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Decision-making in the presence of other competitive intelligent agents is fundamental for social and economic behavior. Such decisions require agents to behave strategically, where in addition to learning about the rewards and punishments available in the environment, they also need to anticipate and respond to actions of others competing for the same rewards. However, whereas we know much about strategic learning at both theoretical and behavioral levels, we know relatively little about the underlying neural mechanisms. Here, we show using a multi-strategy competitive learning paradigm that strategic choices can be characterized by extending the reinforcement learning (RL) framework to incorporate agents' beliefs about the actions of their opponents. Furthermore, using this characterization to generate putative internal values, we used model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate neural computations underlying strategic learning. We found that the distinct notions of prediction errors derived from our computational model are processed in a partially overlapping but distinct set of brain regions. Specifically, we found that the RL prediction error was correlated with activity in the ventral striatum. In contrast, activity in the ventral striatum, as well as the rostral anterior cingulate (rACC), was correlated with a previously uncharacterized belief-based prediction error. Furthermore, activity in rACC reflected individual differences in degree of engagement in belief learning. These results suggest a model of strategic behavior where learning arises from interaction of dissociable reinforcement and belief-based inputs.game theory | neuroeconomics | computational modeling | functional MRI D ecision-making in the presence of competitive intelligent agents is fundamental for social and economic behavior (1, 2). Here, in addition to learning about rewards and punishments available in the environment, agents also need to anticipate and respond to actions of others competing for the same rewards. This ability to behave strategically has been the subject of intense study in theoretical biology and game theory (1, 2). However, whereas we know much about strategic learning at both theoretical and behavioral levels, we know relatively little about the underlying neural mechanisms. We studied neural computations underlying learning in a stylized but well-characterized setting of a population with many anonymously interacting agents and low probability of reencounter. This setting provides a natural model for situations such as commuters in traffic or bargaining in bazaars (1). Importantly, in minimizing the role of reputation and higher-order belief considerations, the population setting using a random matching protocol is perhaps the most widely studied experimental setting and has served as a basic building block for a number of models in evolutionary biology and game theory (1, 2).Behaviorally, there is substantial evidence that strategic learning can be parsimoniously characterized by using two l...

show abstract

“…S3). This finding thus suggests that inputs converge at the time of choice and is consistent with findings in animal literature of hybrid-type signals in sensory-motor regions (20).…”

Section: Rostral Acc Activity Uniquely Correlated With Belief-based Psupporting

confidence: 91%

Dissociable neural representations of reinforcement and belief prediction errors underlie strategic learning

Zhu¹,

Mathewson

Hsu

2012

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

115

156

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1996; Ignashchenkova et al, 2004), target selection (Horwitz and Newsome, 2001;McPeek and Keller, 2002), and choice (Thevarajah et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prefrontal Cortex Deactivation in Macaques Alters Activity in the Superior Colliculus and Impairs Voluntary Control of Saccades

Koval

Lomber²,

Everling³

2011

Journal of Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The cognitive control of action requires both the suppression of automatic responses to sudden stimuli and the generation of behavior specified by abstract instructions. Though patient, functional imaging and neurophysiological studies have implicated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in these abilities, the mechanism by which the dlPFC exerts this control remains unknown. Here we examined the functional interaction of the dlPFC with the saccade circuitry by deactivating area 46 of the dlPFC and measuring its effects on the activity of single superior colliculus neurons in monkeys performing a cognitive saccade task. Deactivation of the dlPFC reduced preparatory activity and increased stimulus-related activity in these neurons. These changes in neural activity were accompanied by marked decreases in task performance as evidenced by longer reaction times and more task errors. The results suggest that the dlPFC participates in the cognitive control of gaze by suppressing stimulus-evoked automatic saccade programs.

show abstract

“…Indeed, studies that have manipulated the activity of one group of SC neurons-presumably corresponding to one of the targetshave indeed observed a larger effect on difficult than on easy trials (Fig. 3;McPeek and Keller 2004;Song et al 2011;Stubblefield et al 2013;Thevarajah et al 2009). Other studies have taken advantage of the known topographic representation of target locations in the SC to demonstrate that inactivating neurons representing one location biases target selection away from the inactivated locus (McPeek and Keller 2004;Krauzlis 2010, 2011).…”

Section: Activity In Superior Colliculus Underlying Selection Of Targmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Interestingly, this increased reliability was largely due to a dependence of activity on difficulty for movements away from, but not toward, the preferred target of the neuron. Specifically, for movements away from the preferred target, weaker stimuli elicited relatively high firing rates (Felsen and Mainen 2012;Horwitz and Newsome 2001a;Ratcliff et al 2007;Thevarajah et al 2009). Together, these data suggest that prelude activity represents targets for movements that are considered but are not ultimately selected, providing further support for such selection occurring in the SC itself or via its influence on premotor nuclei, as opposed to upstream of the SC.…”

Section: Activity In Superior Colliculus Underlying Selection Of Targmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrative role for the superior colliculus in selecting targets for movements

Wolf

Lintz

Costabile

et al. 2015

Journal of Neurophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-A fundamental goal of systems neuroscience is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying decision making. The midbrain superior colliculus (SC) is known to be central to the selection of one among many potential spatial targets for movements, which represents an important form of decision making that is tractable to rigorous experimental investigation. In this review, we first discuss data from mammalian models-including primates, cats, and rodents-that inform our understanding of how neural activity in the SC underlies the selection of targets for movements. We then examine the anatomy and physiology of inputs to the SC from three key regions that are themselves implicated in motor decisions-the basal ganglia, parabrachial region, and neocortex-and discuss how they may influence SC activity related to target selection. Finally, we discuss the potential for methodological advances to further our understanding of the neural bases of target selection. Our overarching goal is to synthesize what is known about how the SC and its inputs act together to mediate the selection of targets for movements, to highlight open questions about this process, and to spur future studies addressing these questions.

show abstract

Role of the Superior Colliculus in Choosing Mixed-Strategy Saccades

Cited by 39 publications

References 44 publications

Dissociable neural representations of reinforcement and belief prediction errors underlie strategic learning

Dissociable neural representations of reinforcement and belief prediction errors underlie strategic learning

Prefrontal Cortex Deactivation in Macaques Alters Activity in the Superior Colliculus and Impairs Voluntary Control of Saccades

An integrative role for the superior colliculus in selecting targets for movements

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About