Saccades are rapid eye movements which orient gaze toward areas of interest in the visual scene. Since most real-world scenes are cluttered with many different potential saccade goals, the selection of a single goal from many possibilities is an essential stage in the generation of these movements.

Saccade target selection lies at the interface between sensory and motor systems. This project probes the functions of two structures traditionally regarded as motor areas: the superior colliculus (SC), a subcortical region important for saccades, and the frontal eye field (FEF), an anatomically-connected cortical region. Current research aims to understand the interactions between these two areas during saccade target selection.