Discharges of Purkinje cells in monkey's flocculus during smooth-pursuit eye movements and visual stimulus movements

Abstract

Modulations in discharges of Purkinje cells (P cells) associated with movements of visual patterns were studied in the flocculus of monkeys trained to execute smooth-pursuit eye movements and to suppress optokinetic nystagmus. One class of P cells responded to the movements of visual stimulus regardless of whether the eyes remained stationary (produced retinal-slip velocity) or moved with the stimulus produced eye velocity). These P cells processed high-order information concerning the absolute velocity of stimulus movements and thereby the eye velocity had already been incorporated in the visual responses (visuomotor P cells). The other class of P cells responded to visual inputs resulting from the retinal slip (visual P cells). The majority of visual P cells (82%) also modulated their activities during smooth pursuit. When sinusoidal trackings were executed against a stationary visual background, various types of interactions occurred in the P-cell responses between the converging visual and oculomotor inputs. The type of interaction was related to the preferred direction for the P cell during eye movements and the side of the peripheral receptive field.