title: Neuronal activity in monkey visual areas V1, V2, V4 and TEO during fixation task.
abstract: We analyzed 577 neurons recorded from visual areas V1, V2, V4, and the inferotemporal area (TEO) of macaque monkeys, which performed a visual fixation task and a spot-off-on (blink) test during the fixation period. Among these neurons, 35% were defined as task-related cells, because they gave responses at the task-start, fixation, or task-end periods but were unresponsive to the spot blink, which was physically identical to these stimuli. Blink-responsive cells accounted for 29% and task-unresponsive cells for 30% of the neurons. The task-related response was large and frequent in V4 (34%) and TEO (41%), but small and less frequent in V1 (31%) and V2 (27%). Other observations further demonstrated nonsensory activities in these areas: In some cells, response to the fixation spot was inhibitory, whereas light stimulation on the fovea was excitatory; some V1 and V2 cells had color-irrelevant responses, and some cells responded to the spot-off only when the monkey regarded it as a task-end cue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Physiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Japan.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iwai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D008251:Macaca; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception