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.