Reach Plans in Eye-Centered Coordinates
Abstract
The neural events associated with visually guided reaching begin with an image on the retina and end with impulses to the muscles. In between, a reaching plan is formed. This plan could be in the coordinates of the arm, specifying the direction and amplitude of the movement, or it could be in the coordinates of the eye because visual information is initially gathered in this reference frame. In a reach-planning area of the posterior parietal cortex, neural activity was found to be more consistent with an eye-centered than an arm-centered coding of reach targets. Coding of arm movements in an eye-centered reference frame is advantageous because obstacles that affect planning as well as errors in reaching are registered in this reference frame. Also, eye movements are planned in eye coordinates, and the use of similar coordinates for reaching may facilitate hand-eye coordination.
Additional Information
© 1999 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 29 June 1998; accepted 25 May 1999. Supported by the Sloan Center for Theoretical Neurobiology and the National Eye Institute. We thank Yale Cohen, Alexander Grunewald, and Philip Sabes for helpful discussions. We also thank Betty Gillikin and Viktor Shcherbatyuk for technical assistance, Janet Baer and Janna Wynne for veterinary care, and Cierina Reyes for administrative assistance.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 52081
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20141124-081206705
- Sloan Center for Theoretical Neurobiology
- National Eye Institute
- NIH
- Created
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2014-11-24Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field