K. Lee et Ej. Tehovnik, TOPOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF FIXATION-RELATED UNITS IN THE DORSOMEDIALFRONTAL-CORTEX OF THE RHESUS-MONKEY, European journal of neuroscience, 7(5), 1995, pp. 1005-1011
Most cells in the dorsomedial frontal cortex of the rhesus monkey had
activity related to saccadic eye movement and/or visual fixation. This
activity changed depending upon the position of a fixation target, wh
ich suggested coding for the target location in spatial coordinates. F
urther analysis of such activity revealed a topographical distribution
of neurons: neurons in the rostral part of the area were more active
with eyes to the contralateral position, while those in the caudal par
t were more active with eyes to the ipsilateral position; also, cells
in the medial part of the area had higher activity with a downward fix
ation position, whereas those in the lateral part had higher activity
with an upward fixation position. This distribution of units was in ag
reement with the map of termination zones of saccadic eye movements ev
oked by electrical stimulation of the same area. These observations pr
ovide evidence for the hypothesis that the dorsomedial frontal cortex
is organized in spatial coordinates and is involved in specifying the
position of visual fixation.