# Neural mechanisms of visual-motor control in smooth pursuit eye movement

> **NIH NIH R01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $638,312

## Abstract

Abstract
Brain function is based on neural systems that comprise a combination of long-range recurrent connections
among many brain regions and local circuits to perform specific computations within each region. Our goal is
to understand how a full neural system mediates specific brain functions. We address this general question
through investigation of a specific visual-motor behavior in non-human primates: visual guidance of smooth
pursuit eye movements. The neural system for pursuit includes extrastriate visual area MT, the smooth eye
movement region of the frontal eye fields (FEFSEM), the dorsolateral pontine nucleus (DLPN) and nucleus
reticularis tegmenti pontis (NRTP) in the brainstem, and the floccular complex of the cerebellum. The major
deliverable of this project is an understanding of the neural system for smooth pursuit eye movements in terms
of the features of a canonical visual-motor/sensory-motor circuit. Our first aim will ask how signals are
transformed in the cortico-cortical pathways between MT and FEFSEM. We will record multiple signal units
simultaneously in both structures while varying the degree of correlation in small patches of moving dots to
control the reliability of visual motion signals. In addition to asking how signals are transformed between the
two areas, we will use noise correlations between simultaneously recorded neurons in MT and FEFSEM to
constrain the architecture of their interconnections. Our second aim will reveal the nature of the visual-motor
transformation in a cortico-ponto-cerebellar pathway from MT and FEFSEM to the floccular complex of the
cerebellum. We will complement existing data from MT and the pons by recording in FEFSEM and the floccular
complex under conditions that will complete our understanding of the representation and processing of visual-
motor gain and expectations of target speed. Our third aim will explore recurrent connections from the floccular
complex of the cerebellum to the motor cortex for pursuit, FEFSEM. We will stimulate in the floccular complex
during both fixation and steady-state tracking while recording from neurons in FEFSEM. The proposed
experiments will extend our knowledge of the operation of the sensory-motor circuit for pursuit, place it in the
context of the architecture of a canonical visual-motor/sensory-motor system, and reveal what transformations
occur in local circuits versus in long-range connections between nodes of the full system.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10915704
- **Project number:** 5R01EY035241-02
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** STEPHEN G LISBERGER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $638,312
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10915704

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10915704, Neural mechanisms of visual-motor control in smooth pursuit eye movement (5R01EY035241-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10915704. Licensed CC0.

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