Neural responses during self-timed, mapping, and memory saccade tasks.

<p>(A) Average neuronal response of an example cell (<i>N</i> = 1 cell). (B) Average combined population activity during the self-timed task (<i>N</i> = 100 cells). Zero time point (vertical dashed line) indicates time of saccade onset. Red lines indicate response periods during peripheral target fixation, while blue lines indicate response periods during central target fixation. All traces in (A and B) are aligned to saccade onset. Activity decreases at a constant rate prior to both directions of saccades. (C) Average self-timed (<i>N</i> = 100) and mapping responses for the subset of our data with complete mapping runs (<i>N</i> = 39). Black line indicates response obtained during the mapping task (aligned to peripheral target onset on left and peripheral saccade onset on right), as in <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001413#pbio-1001413-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3C</a>. The blue line indicates periods of central fixation (blue shading) aligned following central saccade onset (left, C) and prior to peripheral saccade onset (right, C). (D) Same as in (C) except the comparison is between self-timed (blue) and memory trials (black, <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001413#pbio-1001413-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3D</a>) (<i>N</i> = 100). Shading along the <i>x</i>-axis in (C and D) represents the presence of a target stimulus within the RF. Activity during intersaccadic intervals of the self-timed task is different from what is observed from the same cells during mapping and memory-guided saccade tasks in which only a single saccade is required, the reward can be anticipated, and the saccade is cued with a stimulus event (C and D). Shading of firing activity represents standard deviation of the mean.