Superior colliculus: visuotopic-somatotopic overlap.

A laminar organization was present in the superior colliculus of the cat, with upper layer cells exclusively visual, lower layer cells primarily somatic (or acoustic), and intermediate layers showing significant modality overlap. The close topographic correspondence between the visual and somatic representations observed within this laminar pattern and the similarities in visual and somatic response specificity may be consistent with the hypothesis that the colliculus combines several sensory modalities to facilitate tracking of a given stimulus.