Reflex suppression in the anti-saccade task is dependent on prestimulus neural processes.
Reflexive responses often must be suppressed to correctly execute a voluntary behavior. It is largely unknown why this control sometimes fails. To examine the neural processes responsible for these failures, we recorded single-neuron activity in the superior colliculus (SC) in behaving monkeys during an anti-saccade task in which they had to suppress a saccade to a visual stimulus that suddenly appeared in the periphery and generate a saccade to the opposite side. We found that the level and distribution of prestimulus activity of buildup neurons in the SC was highly predictive of whether a correct response or an error occurred. A high level of prestimulus activity in buildup neurons at the location in the SC where the visual stimulus was represented was associated with the generation of a reflexive saccade to the stimulus. These findings suggest that the successful suppression of reflexive saccades is dependent on prestimulus neural processes in the SC.
Everling
S
S
Department of Physiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Dorris
M C
MC
Munoz
D P
DP
D000818:Animals; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology*; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*