Neural correlates of goal-directed and non–goal-directed movements

Sendhilnathan, Naveen; Basu, Debaleena; Goldberg, Michael E.; Schall, Jeffrey D.; Murthy, Aditya

doi:10.1073/pnas.2006372118

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…On the other hand, we know that the frontal eye field (FEF) is active during visually-guided and memory-guided saccade tasks (Bruce and Goldberg 1985) but the neural discharge differences between planned versus distractive saccades are less clear. However, a recent report of a study on macaques showed that non-goal-directed saccades had a lower firing rate compared to goal-directed saccades, and this appears to be due to the lack of attention while performing the task (Sendhilnathan et al 2021). These results suggest that FEF neurons responses are lower for unattended targets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissecting errors made in response to externally- and internally-driven visual tasks in the common marmosets and humans

Amly

Chen

Onoe

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Various saccadic tasks traditionally used in oculomotor research, including both exogenously-driven and endogenously-driven saccades, have been proposed as clinical diagnostic for human movement disorders. Recently, common marmosets have been proven to be a good primate model for these movement disorders. However, whether similar saccadic measurements can be used for marmosets was not tested. Here, we trained three marmosets on the gap task, an exogenously-driven saccadic task, and the oculomotor delayed response (ODR) task, an endogenously-driven saccadic task. We demonstrated that with long-term training, they were able to learn and switch between the two tasks. The marmosets showed undershooting tendency in the gap and both under- and overshooting tendency in the ODR task when they made saccades to the target. We also categorized the error trails into distractive, impulsive, and visuomotor errors, depending on when a false saccade happened in relation to the task progression and interpreted possible causes of errors based on the saccade response time and the task history. Each error category may indicate specific failures in a particular aspect of cognitive or sensory-motor processes. Finally, and critically, we found that saccades from successful trials exhibited the highest saccade peak velocity and the shortest saccade duration comparing to the same saccade amplitude from error trials. Taken together, we showed the potential of training the same marmosets on conflicting oculomotor tasks simultaneously. We documented the baseline performance and compared successful and error trials in both gap and ODR tasks from the same animals. We propose that analyzing the error trials in sync with successful trials could provide a further understanding of the cognitive and sensorimotor processes of the marmosets, in both healthy and disease conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissecting errors made in response to externally- and internally-driven visual tasks in the common marmosets and humans

Amly

Chen

Onoe

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…The methods that were used in this study have been described in detail elsewhere (Basu et al, 2021; Basu and Murthy, 2020; Rungta et al, 2021; Sendhilnathan et al, 2021). Here, we describe them briefly.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neck motor unit activity displays neural signatures of temporal control during sequential saccade planning

Basu

Sendhilnathan

Murthy

2021

Preprint

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Goal-directed behavior involves the transformation of neural movement plans into appropriate muscle activity patterns. Studies involving single saccades have shown that a rapid, direct pathway links saccade planning in frontal eye fields (FEF) to neck muscle activity. It is unknown if the rapid connection between FEF and neck muscle is maintained during sequential saccade planning. We show that sequence planning signals in the FEF are preserved in the neck EMG, although the activity is delayed specifically for the second saccade. Our results suggest that while the direct link between FEF and neck muscle facilitates downstream continuation of FEF response patterns, an indirect route exists through an inhibitory control center like the basal ganglia, limiting the information flow during processing of saccade sequences. Thus, the indirect and direct pathways from the FEF may function together to enable rapid synchronous, but controlled eye-head responses to sequential gaze shifts.

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“…While the elements within the parallel sequences are standardly ordered when operating within the same timeframe, that timeframe depends on the range of the required signal variability ( Verschure et al, 2014 ; Sendhilnathan et al, 2021 ) for a given goal-oriented behavior. To standardize the parallel sequences within a timeframe (the overall healthy range of signal variability) ( Northoff, 2016 ), such standards may involve propagation delays at the beginning or end of the sequence, depending on its type ( Williams et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: The Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Control systems theory revisited: new insights on the brain clocks of time-to-action

2023

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To outline the complex biological rhythms underlying the time-to-action of goal-oriented behavior in the adult brain, we employed a Boolean Algebra model based on Control Systems Theory. This suggested that “timers” of the brain reflect a metabolic excitation-inhibition balance and that healthy clocks underlying goal-oriented behavior (optimal range of signal variability) are maintained by XOR logic gates in parallel sequences between cerebral levels. Using truth tables, we found that XOR logic gates reflect healthy, regulated time-to-action events between levels. We argue that the brain clocks of time-to-action are active within multileveled, parallel-sequence complexes shaped by experience. We show the metabolic components of time-to-action in levels ranging from the atom level through molecular, cellular, network and inter-regional levels, operating as parallel sequences. We employ a thermodynamic perspective, suggest that clock genes calculate free energy versus entropy and derived time-to-action level-wise as a master controller, and show that they are receivers, as well as transmitters of information. We argue that regulated multileveled time-to-action processes correspond to Boltzmann’s thermodynamic theorem of micro- and macro-states, and that the available metabolic free-energy-entropy matrix determines the brain’s reversible states for its age-appropriate chrono-properties at given moments. Thus, healthy timescales are not a precise number of nano- or milliseconds of activity nor a simple phenotypic distinction between slow vs. quick time-to-action, but rather encompass a range of variability, which depends on the molecules’ size and dynamics with the composition of receptors, protein and RNA isoforms.

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Neural correlates of goal-directed and non–goal-directed movements

Cited by 17 publications

References 31 publications

Dissecting errors made in response to externally- and internally-driven visual tasks in the common marmosets and humans

Dissecting errors made in response to externally- and internally-driven visual tasks in the common marmosets and humans

Neck motor unit activity displays neural signatures of temporal control during sequential saccade planning

Control systems theory revisited: new insights on the brain clocks of time-to-action

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