Neuronal correlates of inferred motion in primate posterior parietal cortex

Abstract

For many types of behaviours, it is necessary to monitor the position or movement of objects that are temporarily occluded. The primate posterior parietal cortex contains neurons that are active during visual guidance tasks: in some cases, even if the visual target disappears transiently. It has been proposed that activity of this sort could be related to current or planned eye movements, but it might also provide a more generalized abstract representation of the spatial disposition of targets, even when they are not visible. We have recorded from monkey posterior parietal cortex while the animal viewed a visual stimulus that disappeared, and then, depending on experimental context, could be inferred to be either moving or stationary. During this temporary absence of the stimulus, about half of the neurons were found to be significantly more active on those trials in which the stimulus could be presumed to be moving rather than stationary. The activity was thus present in the absence of either sensory input or motor output, suggesting that it may indeed constitute a generalized representation of target motion.