Modality-specific reactive and predictive responses in the human superior colliculus.

The human superior colliculus exhibits modality-specific predictive responses to visual and somatosensory stimuli, with distinct depth-dependent activity observed in 80 layers.

• Why it matters: Understanding how the brain anticipates sensory events is crucial for unraveling sensorimotor integration and predictive processing, yet direct evidence in humans has been limited.
• What they did: Using 7-Tesla fMRI and a multi-stage experimental design, the study mapped sensory responses across superior colliculus layers and identified predictive activity during pre-stimulation periods in 80 layers.
• The result: Findings demonstrate that the superior colliculus not only processes modality-specific sensory input but also anticipates upcoming stimuli, enabling better understanding of predictive neural mechanisms in humans.