Saccade-induced image motion cannot account for post-saccadic enhancement of visual processing in primate MST

Abstract

Primates use saccadic eye movements to make gaze changes. In many visual areas, including the dorsal medial superior temporal area (MSTd) of macaques, neural responses to visual stimuli are reduced during saccades but enhanced afterwards. How does this enhancement arise—from an internal mechanism associated with saccade generation or through visual mechanisms activated by the saccade sweeping the image of the visual scene across the retina? Spontaneous activity in MSTd is elevated even after saccades made in darkness, suggesting a central mechanism for post-saccadic enhancement. However, based on the timing of this effect, it may arise from a different mechanism than occurs in normal vision...