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Separate body- and world-referenced representations of visual space in parietal cortex

Nature volume 394, pages 887–891 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

In order to direct a movement towards a visual stimulus, visualspatial information must be combined with postural information1. For example, directing gaze (eye plus head) towards a visible target requires the combination of retinal image location with eye and head position to determine the location of the target relative to the body. Similarly, world-referenced postural information is required to determine where something lies in the world. Posterior parietal neurons recorded in monkeys combine visual information with eye and head position2,3,4. A population of such cells could make up a distributed representation of target location in an extraretinal frame of reference4,5,6,7. However, previous studies have not distinguished between world-referenced and body-referenced signals4,8. Here we report that modulations of visual signals (gain fields) in two adjacent cortical fields, LIP and 7a, are referenced to the body and to the world, respectively. This segregation of spatial information is consistent with a streaming of information, with one path carrying body-referenced information for the control of gaze, and the other carrying world-referenced information for navigation and other tasks that require an absolute frame of reference.

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Figure 1: LIP responses (open circles) were modulated by body- but not world-referenced target location; 7a responses (filled squares) were modulated by world- but not body-referenced location.
Figure 2: Head-position gain fields in LIP were accounted for by body-referenced modulation.
Figure 3: The 7a world-referenced gain field modulation did not fully account for modulation seen after active head movements.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Roberts and B. Gillikin for technical assistance, and S. Gertmenian for editorial assistance. This work was supported by the Della Martin, McDonnell-Pew and Sloan foundations, the National Eye Institute and the Office of Naval Research.

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Author notes

  1. Lawrence H. Snyder

    Present address: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Box 8108, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri, 63110, USA

  2. Kenneth L. Grieve

    Present address: Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, PO Box 88, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK

  3. Peter Brotchie

    Present address: Medical Imaging Department, St Vincent's Hospital, Princess Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Lawrence H. Snyder, Kenneth L. Grieve, Peter Brotchie & Richard A. Andersen

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Correspondence to Richard A. Andersen.

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Snyder, L., Grieve, K., Brotchie, P. et al. Separate body- and world-referenced representations of visual space in parietal cortex. Nature 394, 887–891 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/29777

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