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A functional link between area MSTd and heading perception based on vestibular signals

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 1038–1047 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent findings of vestibular responses in part of the visual cortex—the dorsal medial superior temporal area (MSTd)—indicate that vestibular signals might contribute to cortical processes that mediate the perception of self-motion. We tested this hypothesis in monkeys trained to perform a fine heading discrimination task solely on the basis of inertial motion cues. The sensitivity of the neuronal responses was typically lower than that of psychophysical performance, and only the most sensitive neurons rivaled behavioral performance. Responses recorded in MSTd were significantly correlated with perceptual decisions, and the correlations were strongest for the most sensitive neurons. These results support a functional link between MSTd and heading perception based on inertial motion cues. These cues seem mainly to be of vestibular origin, as labyrinthectomy produced a marked elevation of psychophysical thresholds and abolished MSTd responses. This study provides evidence that links single-unit activity to spatial perception mediated by vestibular signals, and supports the idea that the role of MSTd in self-motion perception extends beyond optic flow processing.

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Figure 1: Experimental setup and stimuli.
Figure 2: Psychophysical performance in the heading discrimination task.
Figure 3: Visual and vestibular tuning for heading.
Figure 4: Quantification and summary of neuronal sensitivity.
Figure 5: Comparison of psychophysical and neuronal thresholds for all individual experiments.
Figure 6: Trial-to-trial covariation between neural activity and behavioral choices (that is, CP).
Figure 7: Dependence of average neuronal thresholds and CPs on the temporal analysis window used to compute mean firing rates.
Figure 8: Comparison between dark free viewing variant (n = 26) and standard fixation version (n = 21) of the heading discrimination task.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank S. Newlands for performing the bilateral labyrinthectomies, K. Takahashi for collecting the neural data after labyrinthectomy, A. Turner and E. White for monkey care and training, and S. Lisberger for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by US National Institutes of Health grants EY017866 and DC04260 to D.E.A. and EY016178 to G.C.D., as well as the EJLB Foundation (G.C.D.).

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  1. Gregory C DeAngelis and Dora E Angelaki: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deptartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    Yong Gu, Gregory C DeAngelis & Dora E Angelaki

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Correspondence to Dora E Angelaki.

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Gu, Y., DeAngelis, G. & Angelaki, D. A functional link between area MSTd and heading perception based on vestibular signals. Nat Neurosci 10, 1038–1047 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1935

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