Coordinate transformations for eye and arm movements in the brain

Abstract

Recent work on the coding of spatial information in the brain has significantly advanced our knowledge of sensory to motor transformations on several fronts. The encoding of information referenced to the retina (eye-centered) but modulated by eye position, called a gain field representation, has proved to be very common throughout parietal and occipital cortex. The use of an eye-centered representation as a working memory of spatial location is problematic if the eyes move during the memory period. Details regarding the manner in which the brain solves this problem are beginning to emerge. Finally, the discovery of eye-centered representations of ongoing or intended arm movements has changed the way we think about the order of operations in the sensory to motor coordinate transformation.