Contrasting the roles of the supplementary and frontal eye fields in ocular decision making

Abstract

Single-unit recording in monkeys and functional imaging of the human frontal lobe indicate that the supplementary eye field (SEF) and the frontal eye field (FEF) are involved in ocular decision making. To test whether these structures have distinct roles in decision making, single-neuron activity was recorded from each structure while monkeys executed an ocular go/nogo task. The task rule is to pursue a moving target if it intersects a visible square or "go zone." We found that most SEF neurons showed differential go/nogo activity during the delay period, before the target intersected the go zone (delay period), whereas most FEF neurons did so after target intersection, during the period in which the movement was executed (movement period). Choice probability (CP) for SEF neurons was high in the delay period but decreased in the movement period, whereas for FEF neurons it was low in the delay period and increased in the movement period. Directional selectivity of SEF neurons was low throughout the trial, whereas that of FEF neurons was highest in the delay period, decreasing later in the trial. Increasing task difficulty led to later discrimination between go and nogo in both structures and lower CP in the SEF, but it did not affect CP in the FEF. The results suggest that the SEF interprets the task rule early but is less involved in executing the motor decision than is the FEF and that these two areas collaborate dynamically to execute ocular decisions.

Impaired smooth-pursuit in Parkinson's disease: normal cue-information memory, but dysfunction of extra-retinal mechanisms for pursuit preparation and execution

“…2011a; Mahaffy and Krauzlis ). These results indicate that, although both areas are involved in smooth‐pursuit prediction, the SEF is primarily involved in planning based on cue‐information memory, whereas the FEF is primarily involved in generating motor commands for efficient pursuit execution (also Yang and Heinen ). Involvement of FEF pursuit neurons in extra‐retinal pursuit components has been shown using a single spot (Tanaka and Fukushima ; Fukushima et al.…”

“…FEF inactivation, in contrast, did not induce such errors but decreased pursuit eye velocity during pursuit maintenance, resulting in "saccadic tracking" (Fukushima et al 2011a;Mahaffy and Krauzlis 2011). These results indicate that, although both areas are involved in smooth-pursuit prediction, the SEF is primarily involved in planning based on cue-information memory, whereas the FEF is primarily involved in generating motor commands for efficient pursuit execution (also Yang and Heinen 2014). Involvement of FEF pursuit neurons in extra-retinal pursuit components has been shown using a single spot (Tanaka and Fukushima 1998;Fukushima et al 2000Fukushima et al , 2002 and during memory-based pursuit (Fukushima et al 2011a).…”

Flexible sensorimotor computations through rapid reconfiguration of cortical dynamics

“…DMFC is a natural candidate for our task because it plays a crucial role in timing as shown by numerous studies in humans (Halsband et al 1993;Rao et al 2001;Coull et al 2004;Pfeuty et al 2005;Macar et al 2006;Cui et al 2009) , monkeys (Okano & Tanji 1987;Merchant et al 2013;Kunimatsu & Tanaka 2012;Isoda & Tanji 2003;Romo & Schultz 1992;Merchant et al 2011;Mita et al 2009;Ohmae et al 2008;Kurata & Wise 1988) , and rodents (Matell et al 2003;Kim et al 2009;Smith et al 2010;Kim et al 2013;Xu et al 2014;Murakami et al 2014) , and because it is involved in context-specific control of actions (Isoda & Hikosaka 2007;Ray & Heinen 2015;Yang & Heinen 2014;Shima et al 1996;Matsuzaka & Tanji 1996;Brass & von Cramon 2002) .…”

Visuomotor Functions in the Frontal Lobe

“…Rather, many other findings suggest that they can be understood as monitoring performance of tasks . The SEF contributes to abstract representations and dispositions that facilitate the performance of complex tasks (Amador et al 2004, Moorman & Olson 2007, Stuphorn et al 2010, Yang et al 2010, Kunimatsu & Tanaka 2012 to a greater extent than the FEF does (Heinen et al 2011, Middlebrooks & Sommer 2012, Yang & Heinen 2014). In addition, many studies have found that SEF and ACC neurons signal negative (error) and positive (reward) feedback (Amador et al 2000, Stuphorn et al 2000, Ito et al 2003, Matsumoto et al 2007, Uchida et al 2007, Kuwabara et al 2014, So & Stuphorn 2012, Purcell et al 2013, Shen et al 2014.…”