Human superior colliculus pathways represent the form and motion of looming objects

The superior colliculus is a conserved midbrain structure critical for detecting and responding to threats, yet its role in human cognition and emotion remains poorly understood. Using task-based fMRI and computational modeling in two experiments, we investigated how the superior colliculus responds to looming threats. We found that the human superior colliculus encodes information about the motion and category of looming objects present in naturalistic videos and controlled experimental stimuli. Encoding models based on task-optimized neural networks for collision detection, object recognition, and visual salience independently predicted colliculus activity and generalized across individuals. Functional connectivity revealed overlapping yet distinct cortico-subcortical-collicular networks sensitive to the motion and category of objects. Critically, superior colliculus responses covaried with self-reported fear, valence, arousal, and distributed brain signatures of emotional experience. These findings demonstrate that the superior colliculus functions in concert with multiple cortical-subcortical systems as humans detect looming threats, challenging cortico-centric views of emotional experience.