The behavioral receptive field underlying motion integration for primate tracking eye movements

Short-latency ocular following are reflexive, tracking eye movements that are observed in human and non-human primates in response to a sudden and brief translation of the image. Initial, open-loop part of the eye acceleration reflects many of the properties attributed to low-level motion processing. We review a very large set of behavioral data demonstrating several key properties of motion detection and integration stages and their dynamics. We propose that these properties can be modeled as a behavioral receptive field exhibiting linear and nonlinear mechanisms responsible for context-dependent spatial integration and gain control. Functional models similar to that used for describing neuronal properties of receptive fields can then be applied successfully.