Facilitation of smooth pursuit initiation by electrical stimulation in the supplementary eye fields

The role of the supplementary eye fields (SEF) during smooth pursuit was investigated with electrical microstimulation. We found that stimulation in the SEF increased the acceleration and velocity of the eyes in the direction of target motion during smooth pursuit initiation but not during sustained pursuit. The increase in eye velocity during initiation will be referred to as pursuit facilitation and was observed at sites where saccades could not be evoked with the same stimulation parameters. On average, electrical stimulation increased eye velocity by ∼20%. At most sites, the threshold for a significant facilitation was 50 μA with a stimulation frequency of 300 Hz. Facilitation of pursuit initiation depended on the timing of stimulation trains. The effect was most pronounced if the stimulation was delivered before smooth pursuit initiation. On average, eye velocity in stimulation trials increased linearly as a function of eye velocity in control trials, and this function had a slope greater than one, suggesting a multiplicative influence of the stimulation. Stimulation during a fixation task did not evoke smooth eye movements. The latency of catch-up saccades was increased during facilitation, but their accuracy was not affected. Saccades toward stationary targets were not affected by the stimulation. The results are further evidence that the SEF plays a role in smooth pursuit in addition to its known role in saccade planning and suggest that this role may be to control the gain of smooth pursuit during initiation. The covariance between pursuit facilitation and the timing of the catch-up saccade as a result of stimulation suggests that these different eye movements systems are coordinated to achieve a common goal.