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Effect of fast moving stimuli and saccadic eye movements on cell activity in visual areas V1 and V2 of behaving monkeys

Authors :
Pp, Battaglini
CLAUDIO GALLETTI
Aicardi G
Squatrito S
Mg, Maioli
Battaglini, PIERO PAOLO
Galletti, C
Aicardi, G
Squatrito, S
Maioli, M. G.
Source :
Scopus-Elsevier, Europe PubMed Central

Abstract

Extracellular recordings were carried out in the visual cortex of behaving monkeys trained on a fixation/detection task, during which a target light was displayed stationary or suddenly moving on a tangent translucent screen. The responses of visual cortical cells to fast moving stimuli during steady fixation and those obtained during rapid eye movements (saccades) which moved their receptive field across a stationary stimulus, were studied. Areas V1 and V2 were explored. When tested with rapidly moving stimuli (500 deg/sec) during steady fixation, neurons in each area behaved in almost the same way. About one fourth of them were activated, the remainder showing either no response (little more than a half of them) or a reduction of the spontaneous firing rate. In both areas, some of the neurons activated during steady fixation did not respond or responded very weakly during eye motion at saccadic velocity (500 +/- 50 deg/sec). Neurons of this type, which we refer to as 'real motion' cells, could somehow contribute to the maintenance of visual stability during the execution of large eye movements.

Details

Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Scopus-Elsevier, Europe PubMed Central
Accession number :
edsair.pmid.dedup....498115777ad0abda5020c088679669ff