The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys

Systematic modulations of microsaccades have been observed in humans during covert orienting. We show here that monkeys are a suitable model for studying the neurophysiology governing these modulations of microsaccades. Using various cue-target saccade tasks, we observed the effects of visual and au...

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Main Authors: Donald C. Brien, Brian D. Corneil, Jillian H. Fecteau, Andrew H. Bell, Douglas P. Munoz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2009-12-01
Series:Journal of Eye Movement Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/2293
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author Donald C. Brien
Brian D. Corneil
Jillian H. Fecteau
Andrew H. Bell
Douglas P. Munoz
author_facet Donald C. Brien
Brian D. Corneil
Jillian H. Fecteau
Andrew H. Bell
Douglas P. Munoz
author_sort Donald C. Brien
collection DOAJ
description Systematic modulations of microsaccades have been observed in humans during covert orienting. We show here that monkeys are a suitable model for studying the neurophysiology governing these modulations of microsaccades. Using various cue-target saccade tasks, we observed the effects of visual and auditory cues on microsaccades in monkeys. As in human studies, following visual cues there was an early bias in cue-congruent microsaccades followed by a later bias in cue-incongruent microsaccades. Following auditory cues there was a cue-incongruent bias in left cues only. In a separate experiment, we observed that brainstem omnipause neurons, which gate all saccades, also paused during microsaccade generation. Thus, we provide evidence that at least part of the same neurocircuitry governs both large saccades and microsaccades.
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spelling doaj-art-b7ebff5ed8174c4cad94f0160e73fbcf2025-08-20T02:27:54ZengMDPI AGJournal of Eye Movement Research1995-86922009-12-013210.16910/jemr.3.2.4The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeysDonald C. Brien0Brian D. Corneil1Jillian H. Fecteau2Andrew H. Bell3Douglas P. Munoz4Queen’s UniversityUniversity of Western OntarioQueen’s UniversityQueen’s UniversityQueen’s UniversitySystematic modulations of microsaccades have been observed in humans during covert orienting. We show here that monkeys are a suitable model for studying the neurophysiology governing these modulations of microsaccades. Using various cue-target saccade tasks, we observed the effects of visual and auditory cues on microsaccades in monkeys. As in human studies, following visual cues there was an early bias in cue-congruent microsaccades followed by a later bias in cue-incongruent microsaccades. Following auditory cues there was a cue-incongruent bias in left cues only. In a separate experiment, we observed that brainstem omnipause neurons, which gate all saccades, also paused during microsaccade generation. Thus, we provide evidence that at least part of the same neurocircuitry governs both large saccades and microsaccades.https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/2293covert orientingcue-target taskomnipause neuronscrossmodal attentionfixational eye movementsoculomotor control
spellingShingle Donald C. Brien
Brian D. Corneil
Jillian H. Fecteau
Andrew H. Bell
Douglas P. Munoz
The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys
Journal of Eye Movement Research
covert orienting
cue-target task
omnipause neurons
crossmodal attention
fixational eye movements
oculomotor control
title The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys
title_full The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys
title_fullStr The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys
title_full_unstemmed The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys
title_short The behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys
title_sort behavioural and neurophysiological modulation of microsaccades in monkeys
topic covert orienting
cue-target task
omnipause neurons
crossmodal attention
fixational eye movements
oculomotor control
url https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/2293
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