Precise heading estimate requires integration of visual optic flow and vestibular inertial motion originating from distinct spatial coordinates (eye- and head-centered, respectively). To explore whether the two heading signals may share a common reference frame along the hierarchy of cortical stages, we explored two multisensory areas in macaques: the smooth pursuit area of the frontal eye field (FEFsem) closer to the motor side, and the dorsal portion of medial superior temporal area (MSTd) closer to the sensory side. In both areas, vestibular signals are head-centered, whereas visual signals are mainly eye-centered. However, visual signals in FEFsem are more shifted towards the head coordinate compared to MSTd. These results are robust being largely independent on: (1) smooth pursuit eye movement, (2) motion parallax cue, and (3) behavioral context for active heading estimation, indicating that the visual and vestibular heading signals may be represented in distinct spatial coordinate in sensory cortices.

中文翻译：

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猕猴 FEFsem 和 MSTd 视觉和前庭航向信号的不同空间坐标

精确的航向估计需要整合源自不同空间坐标（分别以眼睛和头部为中心）的视觉光流和前庭惯性运动。为了探索两个航向信号是否可以沿着皮层阶段的层次结构共享一个共同的参考框架，我们探索了猕猴的两个多感觉区域：更靠近运动侧的额叶眼场 (FEFsem) 的平滑追踪区域和背侧部分内侧上颞区 (MSTd) 更靠近感觉侧。在这两个区域，前庭信号以头部为中心，而视觉信号主要以眼睛为中心。然而，与 MSTd 相比，FEFsem 中的视觉信号更倾向于头部坐标。这些结果在很大程度上独立于：（1）平滑追踪眼球运动，（2）运动视差提示，