Corollary discharge circuits for saccadic modulation of the pigeon visual system

Abstract

A saccadic eye movement causes a variety of transient perceptual sequelae that might be the results of corollary discharge. Here we describe the neural circuits for saccadic corollary discharge that modulates activity throughout the pigeon visual system. Saccades in pigeons caused inhibition that was mediated by corollary discharge followed by enhancement of firing activity in the telencephalic hyperpallium, visual thalamus and pretectal nucleus lentiformis mesencephali (nLM) with opposite responses in the accessory optic nucleus (nBOR). Inactivation of thalamic neurons eliminated saccadic responses in telencephalic neurons, and inactivation of both the nLM and the nBOR abolished saccadic responses in thalamic neurons. Saccade-related omnipause neurons in the brainstem raphe complex inhibited the nBOR and excited the nLM, whereas inactivation of raphe neurons eliminated saccadic responses in both optokinetic and thalamic neurons. It seems that saccadic responses in telencephalic neurons are generated by corollary discharge signals from brainstem neurons that are transmitted through optokinetic and thalamic neurons. These signals might have important roles in visual perception.