A model of saccadic generation based on the neurobiology of the superior colliculus

The superior colliculus (SC) is a midbrain structure containing visual, auditory, and somatosensory neuronal afferent connections. We define an artificial neural network model for use in a mobile multisensory robotic system. This model attempts to emulate SC operation with respect to its role in the generation of saccadic motor command signals sent to ocular muscle control centers in the midbrain. Much research has been centered on the exact model for this process in the visual modality. There has also been supporting research in quantifying the auditory response mapping for saccade. Our model integrates knowledge from this work along with neuroanatomical details to define a multimodal approach for understanding saccadic motor signal generation. It is important to note that we do not attempt to create an exact neurobiological equivalent function. We only use the anatomical knowledge as a motivation for our model architecture