Locomotor efference copy signaling and gaze control: An evolutionary perspective

Lambert FM(1), Beraneck M(2), Straka H(3), Simmers J(4).

Author information:
(1)Institut des Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine, CNRS Unité
Mixte de Recherche 5287, Université de Bordeaux, 33706 Bordeaux, France.
(2)Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS UMR 8002, Université
Paris Cité, 75006 Paris, France.
(3)Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, 82152 Planegg,
Germany.
(4)Institut des Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine, CNRS Unité
Mixte de Recherche 5287, Université de Bordeaux, 33706 Bordeaux, France.
Electronic address: .

Neural replicas of the spinal motor commands that drive locomotion have become
increasingly recognized as an intrinsic neural mechanism for producing
gaze-stabilizing eye movements that counteract the perturbing effects of
self-generated head/body motion. By pre-empting reactive signaling by
motion-detecting vestibular sensors, such locomotor efference copies (ECs)
provide estimates of the sensory consequences of behavioral action. Initially
demonstrated in amphibian larvae during spontaneous fictive swimming in
deafferented in vitro preparations, direct evidence for a contribution of
locomotor ECs to gaze stabilization now extends to the ancestral lamprey and to
tetrapod adult frogs and mice. Supporting behavioral evidence also exists for
other mammals, including humans, therefore further indicating the mechanism’s
conservation during vertebrate evolution. The relationship between feedforward
ECs and vestibular sensory feedback in ocular movement control is variable,
ranging from additive to the former supplanting the latter, depending on
vestibular sensing ability, and the intensity and regularity of rhythmic
locomotor movements.

Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2023.102761
PMID: 37604066 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors
declare no competing interests that could have appeared to influence the work
reported in this paper.

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