Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

1-1-2026

Journal

Frontiers in Neuroscience

DOI

10.3389/fnins.2026.1741923

PMID

42077355

PMCID

PMC13128421

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

4-16-2026

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

The superior colliculus (SC) plays a crucial role in multisensory integration, visual information processing, saccadic target selection, visual selective attention, and decision making. In particular, the SC has a key role in oculomotor coordination, following a rostro-caudal organization. The rostral SC, which corresponds to foveal representation, is linked to fixation, microsaccades, smooth pursuit, and vergence adjustments. In contrast, the caudal SC, representing more peripheral visual field, is associated with the large gaze shifts (saccades). However, evidence regarding whether this functional gradient is preserved in the human SC remains limited. In this study, we employed a sequence-following visual-motor task to specifically engage SC activity. We measured blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses to brief neural activity, known as hemodynamic response function (HRF). We showed a spatial gradient of the BOLD positive HRFs (pHRF) along the rostro-caudal axis of the SC. The pHRF was primarily located in the rostral SC, and it gradually weakened toward the caudal SC, where negative HRF (nHRF) was often observed. The systematic rostro-caudal evolution of HRFs were consistent both within and across subjects, consistent with results from previous electrophysiological studies. Our work showed the feasibility of using ultra-high-field fMRI to non-invasively examine neurovascular dynamics in a small and deeply located subcortical structures of the human brain.

Keywords

blood oxygenation level dependent, BOLD positive HRFs, functional magnetic resonance imaging, hemodynamic response function, negative HRF, neurovascular dynamics, spatial gradient, superior colliculi

Published Open-Access

yes

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