Frames of reference for eye-head gaze commands in primate supplementary eye fields.
The supplementary eye field (SEF) is a region within medial frontal cortex that integrates complex visuospatial information and controls eye-head gaze shifts. Here, we test if the SEF encodes desired gaze directions in a simple retinal (eye-centered) frame, such as the superior colliculus, or in some other, more complex frame. We electrically stimulated 55 SEF sites in two head-unrestrained monkeys to evoke 3D eye-head gaze shifts and then mathematically rotated these trajectories into various reference frames. Each stimulation site specified a specific spatial goal when plotted in its intrinsic frame. These intrinsic frames varied site by site, in a continuum from eye-, to head-, to space/body-centered coding schemes. This variety of coding schemes provides the SEF with a unique potential for implementing arbitrary reference frame transformations.
Martinez-Trujillo
Julio C
JC
Laboratory of Visuomotor Neuroscience, Centre for Vision Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Group for Action and Perception and Department of Psychology, CSB York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada. julio.martinez@mcgill.ca
Medendorp
W Pieter
WP
Wang
Hongying
H
Crawford
J Douglas
JD
D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D019416:Head Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*