Ocular following eye movements in marmosets follow complex motion trajectories

Abstract

Ocular following eye movements help stabilize images on the retina and offer a window to study motion interpretation by visual circuits. We use these ocular following eye movements to study motion integration behavior in the marmosets. We characterize ocular following responses in the marmosets using different moving stimuli such as dot patterns, gratings, and plaids. The marmosets can accurately track motion along different directions and exhibit spatial frequency and speed sensitivity that closely matches the sensitivity reported in neurons from their motion selective area MT. Marmosets are also able to track the integrated motion of plaids, with tracking direction consistent with intersection of constraints model of motion integration. Marmoset ocular following responses are similar to responses in macaques and humans with certain species-specific differences in peak sensitivities. Such motion sensitive eye movement behavior in combination with direct access to cortical circuitry makes the marmoset model well suited to study the neural basis of motion integration. Significance statementOcular following is a reflexive eye tracking behavior in response to large visual field motion. It reflects the properties of underlying motion sensing circuits. One of the primary motion sensing areas in primates is area MT. In the primate species of marmosets, this and other cortical areas are easily accessible due to their lissencephalic brain. We demonstrate ocular following behavior in the marmosets for simple and complex motion trajectories and describe its characteristics. We then use ocular following to distinguish between different motion integration models. Our results show the utility of ocular following to study the neural basis for motion sensing in marmosets.