PPubMed30 Oct 2012Cited 47×

Temporal Production Signals in Parietal Cortex Temporal Production in Area LIP

Blaine A. Schneider, Geoffrey M. Ghose, Christopher C. Pack

Abstract

Neuronal activity in the lateral intraparietal cortex of monkeys reflects the passage of time and is sufficiently precise to explain timed eye movements.

A figure from Temporal Production Signals in Parietal Cortex Temporal Production in Area LIP — fig. from the paper

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LIP neurons show a decreasing firing rate that predicts 1‑second saccade timing, indicating a cross‑hemispheric difference signal drives temporal production.

What’s new

i.Demonstrated that neuronal activity in LIP decreases steadily during the timed interval before saccades.
ii.Showed that the magnitude of this decrease predicts the exact intersaccadic interval length on a trial‑by‑trial basis.
iii.Recorded and analyzed activity from a population of 100 LIP neurons across two monkeys.
iv.Proposed a cross‑hemispheric difference model where integrated activity from opposite LIP locations drives saccade initiation.

How they did it

Monkeys performed a self‑timed rhythmic‑saccade task requiring saccades at ~1‑second intervals while neuronal activity was recorded from the lateral intraparietal area (LIP). Firing rates were aligned to saccade onset, correlated with interval duration, and used to build a predictive difference model.

What they found

Average intersaccadic intervals were ~1,000 ms (Animal 1: 1,003 ms ± 111 ms; Animal 2: 973 ms ± 101 ms).
81 of 100 recorded neurons did not show a significant pre‑saccadic increase in activity.
Population activity decreased prior to saccade initiation for both central and peripheral saccades.
The difference model produced a near‑linear signal that reached threshold ~100 ms before saccade onset.

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