title: Movement of neural activity on the superior colliculus motor map during gaze shifts.
abstract: The superior colliculus contains neurons that cause displacements of the visual axis (gaze shifts). These cells are arranged topographically in a motor map on which the vector (amplitude and direction) of the coded movement varies continuously with location. How this spatial representation becomes a temporal code (frequency and duration) in the motoneurons is unknown. During a gaze shift, a zone of neural activity moved continuously on the map from an initial location, defining the vector of the desired gaze shift, to a final "zero" position containing neurons that were active during fixation. Thus, the spatial-temporal transformation may be accomplished by control of gaze throughout the spatial trajectory of activity on the motor map.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Munoz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pélisson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guitton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D005133:Eye Movements; D009801:Oculomotor Muscles / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology