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Summary: 0270~6474/83/0303-0532$02.00/O
Copyright 0 Society for Neuroscience
Printed in U.S.A.
The Journal of Neuroscience
Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 532-548
March 1983
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ANGLE OF GAZE UPON THE
EXCITABILITY OF THE LIGHT-SENSITIVE NEURONS OF THE
POSTERIOR PARIETAL CORTEX1
RICHARD A. ANDERSEN2 AND VERNON B. MOUNTCASTLE
The Philip Bard Laboratories of Neurophysiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of
Neuroscience, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
Received September 8, 1982; Revised October 26, 1982; Accepted November 5, 1982
Abstract
The responses of parietal visual neurons are markedly increased during attentive fixation, as
compared to those evoked in relaxed wakefulness, an effect specific for directed attention and
unrelated to putative differences in the general level of arousal. Those responses are also strongly
influenced by the angle of gaze, an effect observed only during directed visual attention. The change
in response is smoothly graded along a meridian for about one-half the neuron population; the
average spatial gradient from maximum to minimum is 78%response for a 20" shift in eye position.
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