High levels of prestimulus activity in superior colliculus buildup neurons were highly predictive of generating an erroneous reflexive saccade during an anti-saccade task.
Successful suppression of reflexive saccades is dependent on prestimulus neural processes in the superior colliculus.
Reflexive responses often must be suppressed to correctly execute a voluntary behavior. It is largely unknown why this control sometimes fails. To examine the neural processes responsible for these failures, we recorded single-neuron activity in the superior colliculus (SC) in behaving monkeys during an anti-saccade task in which they had to suppress a saccade to a visual stimulus that suddenly appeared in the periphery and generate a saccade to the opposite side. We found that the level and distribution of prestimulus activity of buildup neurons in the SC was highly predictive of whether a correct response or an error occurred. A high level of prestimulus activity in buildup neurons at the location in the SC where the visual stimulus was represented was associated with the generation of a reflexive saccade to the stimulus. These findings suggest that the successful suppression of reflexive saccades is dependent on prestimulus neural processes in the SC.
Everling et al. (Tue,) conducted a other in Reflex suppression. Prestimulus neural activity in the superior colliculus was evaluated on Correct response or error (reflexive saccade). High levels of prestimulus activity in superior colliculus buildup neurons were highly predictive of generating an erroneous reflexive saccade during an anti-saccade task.