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Performance monitoring by the supplementary eye field

Nature volume 408, pages 857–860 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Intelligent behaviour requires self-control based on the consequences of actions. The countermanding task is designed to study self-control; it requires subjects to withhold planned movements in response to an imperative stop signal, which they can do with varying success. In humans, the medial frontal cortex has been implicated in the supervisory control of action1,2,3. In monkeys, the supplementary eye field in the dorsomedial frontal cortex is involved in producing eye movements, but its precise function has not been clarified4. To investigate the role of the supplementary eye field in the control of eye movements, we recorded neural activity in macaque monkeys trained to perform an eye movement countermanding task. Distinct groups of neurons were active after errors, after successful withholding of a partially prepared movement, or in association with reinforcement. These three forms of activation could not be explained by sensory or motor factors. Our results lead us to put forward the hypothesis that the supplementary eye field contributes to monitoring the context and consequences of eye movements.

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Figure 1: Putative error signal.
Figure 2: Putative conflict signal.
Figure 3: Population data of putative conflict signal.
Figure 4: Putative reinforcement signal.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Ruch for help with the experiments, K. Hodges for help with the anatomical reconstruction, J. Jewett for help with the figures, and M. Coles, J. Cohen, A. Graybiel, G. Logan, A. Murthy and S. Park for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the NIMH, DFG and NSERC.

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Author notes

  1. Tracy L. Taylor

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 37240, Tennessee, USA

    Veit Stuphorn, Tracy L. Taylor & Jeffrey D. Schall

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  1. Veit Stuphorn
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  3. Jeffrey D. Schall
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Correspondence to Jeffrey D. Schall.

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Stuphorn, V., Taylor, T. & Schall, J. Performance monitoring by the supplementary eye field. Nature 408, 857–860 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35048576

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