Resilience of FEF neuronal saccade code to V4 perturbations

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• The frontal eye field (FEF) is crucial for initiating saccades, rapid eye movements.
• Accumulation models propose how FEF neuronal dynamics enable saccade initiation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the predictive accuracy of FEF neuronal activity for saccade initiation.
• To evaluate the compliance of FEF neurons with accumulation models.

Main Methods:

• Recorded single-neuron activity in the FEF of rhesus monkeys during a memory-guided saccade task.
• Quantified presaccadic activity to predict imminent saccades.
• Perturbed FEF neurons via area V4 to assess impact on saccade predictability.

Main Results:

• Decoders trained on neurons with a stronger motor component predicted saccades more accurately than those trained on visual-component neurons.
• Perturbations to FEF neurons significantly altered reaction times but not saccade predictability.
• FEF neuronal presaccadic discharge patterns demonstrated high resilience, aligning with accumulation models.

Conclusions:

• FEF neurons with a motor component are more predictive of saccades.
• FEF neuronal activity patterns exhibit resilience to perturbations, supporting accumulation models of saccade initiation.