The Role of Prefrontal and Posterior Parietal Cortex in Generating Multiple Step Saccades
Wenbo Ma1 · Zhaohuan Ding3 · Leixiao Feng2 · Xiaoli Li4,5 · Mingsha Zhang21 School of Psychiatry, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Division of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
3 Shien-Ming Wu School of Intelligent Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 511442, China
4 Guangdong Artifcial Intelligence and Digital Economy Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 510335, China
5 School of Automation Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Abstract
While multiple step saccades (MSS) are occasionally reported in the healthy population, they are more evident in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Therefore, MSS has been suggested as a biological marker for the diagnosis of PD. However, the lack of clarity on the neural mechanism underlying the generation of MSS largely impedes their application in the clinic. We have proposed recently that MSS are triggered by the discrepancy between desired and executed saccades. Accordingly, brain regions involved in saccadic planning and execution might play a role in the generation of MSS. To test this hypothesis, we explored the role of the prefrontal (PFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in generating MSS by conducting two experiments: electroencephalographic recording and single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation in the PFC or PPC of humans while participants were performing a gap saccade task. We found that the PFC and PPC are involved in the generation of MSS.
Keywords
EEG; Gap saccadic task; Transcranial magnetic stimulation; Prefrontal cortex; Posterior parietal cortex
