A structure in the midbrainjust below the thalamus and on the roof of the brain stem, implicated in the control of eye-movements and head movements and their coordination during orienting movements. In mammals, the superior colliculus is a site of significant multisensory convergence, andhas been used extensively as a model of the neural basis of multisensory cueintegration via invivostudies of neurophysiological functioning in cats and monkeys (Stein, 2012).Such studies have demonstrated significant influences of sensory experience onmultisensory neural functioning. It has complex structural organization: projections from the retina and primary visual cortex are retinotopically organized and mainly restricted to the upper or superfical layers. In contrast, the deeper layers are involved in the motor control of eye and head movements. Given its crucial role in vision, relatively little is known about how it develops in humans. In a study of human embryos and fetuses from 8 to 28 weeks gestational age (GA), available evidence indicates that the structure (i.e., lamination) becomes apparent by 11 weeks GA, by 16 weeks all its eventual seven layers are visible, with all connections more or less complete by 20 weeks (Qu et al., 2006).
See Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Dorsal visual pathway (or stream), Brain stem, Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), Eye movements, Frontal eye fields (FEF), Lateral geniculate nucleus (or body), Mesencephalon, Multisensory cue integration, Oculomotor nucleus, Primary visual cortex (V1), Saccade / anti saccade movements, Tectospinal tract, Thalamus, Two visual systems hypothesis
Qu, J., Zhou, X., Zhu, H., Cheng, H.,& Ashwell, K.W.S. (2006). Development of the human superior colliculus andthe retinocollicular projection. ExperimentalEye Research, 82, 300-310.
Stein, B.E. (Ed.) (2012). The new handbook of multisensory processing. Cambridge, MA: MITPress.