Encoding of cerebellar dentate neuron activity during visual attention in rhesus macaques

To study cerebellar activity during visual attention we recorded extracellular activity of dentate nucleus (DN) neurons in two non-human primates (NHPs). NHPs were trained to read the direction indicated by a peripheral visual stimulus while maintaining fixation at the center, and report the direction of the cue by performing a saccadic eye movement into the same direction following a delay.DN neurons modulated spiking activity over the entire time-course of the task, and that their activity often bridged temporally separated intra-trial events, yet in a heterogeneous manner.  Both NHPs showed different behavioral strategies, which influenced the performance. Activity of the DN neurons reflected the unique strategies, with the direction of the visual stimulus frequently being encoded long before an upcoming saccade Together, our results highlight that DN neurons can dynamically modulate their activity during a visual attention task, comprising not only sensorimotor but also cognitive attentional components.