Behavioral enhancement of visual responses of prestriate neurons of the rhesus monkey

Abstract

Neurons in the superior colliculus, striate cortex, frontal eye fields, and posterior parietal cortex of the monkey respond to visual stimuli. Many of these cells discharge more intensely to a stimulus when it is to be the target for a saccadic eye movement than when fixation is maintained. We have demonstrated that such enhancement of the visual response is also present for cells in prestriate cortex. The prestriate effect is a modulation of the visual response and not a concomitant of oculomotor activity. It is present for eye movements away from as well as into the visual receptive field and is thus similar to that seen in striate cortex and different from that studied in the superior colliculus, frontal eye fields, and posterior parietal cortex. The visual responses of many prestriate cells habituate with repeated stimulation. When the monkey makes saccadic eye movements to a stimulus that is eliciting only a habituated response, the enhancement acts as a dishabituation which persists throughout the eye movement trials.