Bilateral increase in MEG planar gradients prior to saccade onset

Fabius, J. H., Fracasso, A. , Deodato, M., Melcher, D. and Van der Stigchel, S. (2023) Bilateral increase in MEG planar gradients prior to saccade onset. Scientific Reports, 13, 5830. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-32980-z) (PMID:37037892) (PMCID:PMC10086038)

Abstract

Every time we move our eyes, the retinal locations of objects change. To distinguish the changes caused by eye movements from actual external motion of the objects, the visual system is thought to anticipate the consequences of eye movements (saccades). Single neuron recordings have indeed demonstrated changes in receptive fields before saccade onset. Although some EEG studies with human participants have also demonstrated a pre-saccadic increased potential over the hemisphere that will process a stimulus after a saccade, results have been mixed. Here, we used magnetoencephalography to investigate the timing and lateralization of visually evoked planar gradients before saccade onset. We modelled the gradients from trials with both a saccade and a stimulus as the linear combination of the gradients from two conditions with either only a saccade or only a stimulus. We reasoned that any residual gradients in the condition with both a saccade and a stimulus must be uniquely linked to visually-evoked neural activity before a saccade. We observed a widespread increase in residual planar gradients. Interestingly, this increase was bilateral, showing activity both contralateral and ipsilateral to the stimulus, i.e. over the hemisphere that would process the stimulus after saccade offset. This pattern of results is consistent with predictive pre-saccadic changes involving both the current and the future receptive fields involved in processing an attended object, well before the start of the eye movement. The active, sensorimotor coupling of vision and the oculomotor system may underlie the seamless subjective experience of stable and continuous perception.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: A.F. is supported by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biology research council (BBSRC, grant number: BB/S006605/1) and the Bial Foundation, Bial Foundation Grants Programme Grant ID: A-29315, number: 203/2020, grant edition: G-15516. For this project, S.V.d.S. received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement n° 863732).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fabius, Mr Jasper and Fracasso, Dr Alessio
• Authors: Fabius, J. H., Fracasso, A., Deodato, M., Melcher, D., and Van der Stigchel, S.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 13: 5830
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
• Data DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/NGUD8

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
303685		Stable perception of external stimuli over time: oculo-motor and visual processing mechanisms	Alessio Fracasso	Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)	BB/S006605/1	Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging