Investigating the mechanisms underlying saccade generation in the frontal eye fields using multisite microstimulation

The frontal eye field (FEF), located in the bank of the arcuate sulcus, has long been associated with the cortical control of eye movements. A classic observation is that saccades can be reliably evoked from the FEF by delivering low-intensity electrical microstimulation. However, several questions remain regarding how microstimulation parameters influence evoked saccades and how population activity in the FEF is decoded by downstream regions to generate a motor command. To address these questions, we used a 16-channel microelectrode array to deliver microstimulation to the FEF of two awake, behaving monkeys. First, we found that larger current intensities were required to evoke changes in saccade direction relative to saccade amplitude when single-site saccades were evoked by stimulating a single contact on the array. Second, when stimulating two contacts simultaneously to investigate how population activity in the FEF is read out, a new polar average model more accurately predicted the amplitude and direction of dual-site saccades than traditional vector sum and vector average models. Using preexisting data from the superior colliculus (SC), we found that although the polar average model was more accurate at predicting saccade amplitude in the SC, it was no more accurate than traditional models at predicting saccade direction. Finally, when stimulating two contacts simultaneously with unequal current intensities, model accuracy depended on the amplitude of the saccades evoked by stimulating each individual site alone, suggesting that the brain may flexibly combine amplitude and direction information from the FEF to generate saccadic plans.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our study uses microsimulation at multiple sites in the frontal eye fields to investigate the principles by which its outputs are integrated to form a unified saccadic eye movement. We provide evidence for a new model governing this integration and evaluate that model for microstimulation in both the frontal eye fields and the superior colliculus.