Neural correlates of goal-directed and non–goal-directed movements. Sendilnathan et al.
Proc. Natl. Academy of Sciences (USA) 2021 118 (6) e2006372118.

Neural variability only decreased for Goal directed saccades (G saccades) but not for non-goal directed saccades (nG saccades).

LFP beta power only decreased for Goal directed saccades (G saccades) but not for non-goal directed saccades (nG saccades).

Although the monkey frontal eye field (FEF) is implicated in the voluntary control of saccades, the neural correlates in FEF that distinguish its contribution to goal directed saccades is not known. In this study, we found that only for during goal-directed saccades the variability in spike rate across trials decreased and had a concurrent reduction of LFP beta-band power. These data indicate the presence of additional constraints and computations such as the role of attention (reduced variability) and inhibitory control (beta band activity) that distinguish goal-directed movements from non–goal-directed movements in FEF.