Fig. 8: Visual and optogenetic detection task and behavioral results.

a Schematic illustration of the detection task. After a brief pre-stimulus fixation period, a background stimulus was shown, followed by the onset of a small visual target with either high or low contrast. On 50% of these trials, the visual target was paired with optogenetic stimulation. Additionally, trials without visual target were included, either with effective laser stimulation (“Opto only” condition) or with control laser stimulation, in which the optic fiber was placed outside the craniotomy (“Sham” condition), or with no laser stimulation (“Catch”). All trial conditions except catch trials had identical timing and were rewarded if the monkey executed a saccade 50–500 ms after target or laser onset. b Saccade rates for all task conditions. The animal showed increased detection performance (higher saccade rate) for high-contrast visual targets compared to low-contrast targets (93.9% vs. 55.9%, n = 115 and n = 118 trials, respectively; two-sided Chi-squared test; P = 3.64e-10). Pairing high-contrast visual targets with optogenetic stimulation did not result in a difference in saccade rate (n = 115 and n = 123 trials, respectively; two-sided Chi-squared test; P = 0.283). Saccade rate increased significantly when low-contrast targets were paired with optogenetic stimulation (55.9% vs. 81.7%; n = 118 and n = 109 trials, respectively; two-sided Chi-squared test; P = 1.47e-04). Optogenetic stimulation alone was not sufficient to be detected by the animal when compared to the false-alarm rate (44.5% vs. 33.4%; n = 119 and n = 467 trials, respectively; two-sided Chi-squared test; P = 0.0521). The saccade rate in the sham stimulation control condition (laser fiber positioned 2 mm outside the craniotomy) was not different from the false-alarm rate (37.9% vs. 33.4%; n = 116 and n = 467 trials, respectively; two-sided Chi-squared test; P = 0.419). The number of total trials per condition (hits+misses or correct rejections + false alarms) are shown in parenthesis. Error bars indicate 95% binomial confidence intervals of the saccade rates. c Reaction time (RT) distributions from trials with and without optogenetic stimulation for high contrast (top), low contrast (middle) and in the absence of visual stimulation (bottom). No significant differences in RTs were observed (two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test; P > 0.05). Smooth lines indicate probability density estimates. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.