Sensory-motor computations in a cortico-pontine pathway

Darlington, Timothy R; Lisberger, Stephen G.

doi:10.1101/2022.02.22.481514

Cited by 3 publications

References 61 publications

(88 reference statements)

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A sensory-motor decoder that transforms neural responses in extrastriate area MT into smooth pursuit eye movements

Behling

Lisberger

2023

Preprint

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Visual motion drives smooth pursuit eye movements through a sensory-motor decoder that uses multiple parallel components and neural pathways to transform the population response in extrastriate area MT into movement. We evaluated the decoder by challenging pursuit in monkeys with reduced motion reliability created by reducing coherence of motion in patches of dots. Reduced dot coherence caused deficits in both the initiation of pursuit and steady-state tracking, revealing the paradox of steady-state eye speeds that fail to accelerate to target speed in spite of persistent image motion. We recorded neural responses to reduced dot coherence in MT and found a decoder that transforms MT population responses into eye movements. During pursuit initiation, decreased dot coherence reduces MT population response amplitude without changing the preferred speed at the peak of the population response. The successful decoder reproduces the measured eye movements by multiplication of (i) the estimate of target speed from the peak of the population response with (ii) visual-motor gain based on the amplitude of the population response. During steady-state tracking, the decoder that worked for pursuit initiation failed. It predicted eye acceleration to target speed even when monkeys' eye speeds were steady at a level well below target speed. We can account for the effect of dot coherence on steady-state eye speed if sensory-motor gain also modulates the eye velocity positive feedback that normally sustains perfect steady-state tracking. Then, poor steady-state tracking persists because of balance between deceleration caused by low positive feedback gain and acceleration driven by MT.

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A sensory-motor decoder that transforms neural responses in extrastriate area MT into smooth pursuit eye movements

Behling

Lisberger

2023

Preprint

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Toward a Biomimetic Neural Circuit Model of Sensory-Motor Processing

Lisberger

2023

Neural Computation

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Computational models have been a mainstay of research on smooth pursuit eye movements in monkeys. Pursuit is a sensory-motor system that is driven by the visual motion of small targets. It creates a smooth eye movement that accelerates up to target speed and tracks the moving target essentially perfectly. In this review of my laboratory's research, I trace the development of computational models of pursuit eye movements from the early control-theory models to the most recent neural circuit models. I outline a combined experimental and computational plan to move the models to the next level. Finally, I explain why research on nonhuman primates is so critical to the development of the neural circuit models I think we need.

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