Neuronal activity in primate parietal cortex area 5 varies with intended movement direction during an instructed-delay period

1989 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. Crammond ◽  
J.F. Kalaska
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Area 5 ◽  
Cortex Area

Somatosensory properties of neurons in the superior parietal cortex (area 5) of the rhesus monkey

1973 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 85-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideo Sakata ◽  
Yoshio Takaoka ◽  
Atsushi Kawarasaki ◽  
Hidetoshi Shibutani
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Monkey ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Area 5 ◽  
Cortex Area ◽  
Superior Parietal Cortex

Reaching Movements With Similar Hand Paths but Different Arm Orientations. II. Activity of Individual Cells in Dorsal Premotor Cortex and Parietal Area 5

1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 2413-2426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Scott ◽  
Lauren E. Sergio ◽  
John F. Kalaska
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Cell Activity ◽  
Reaching Movements ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Dorsal Premotor Cortex ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Parietal Area ◽  
Area 5 ◽  
Interaction Term

Scott, Stephen H., Lauren E. Sergio, and John F. Kalaska. Reaching movements with similar hand paths but different arm orientations. II. Activity of individual cells in dorsal premotor cortex and parietal area 5. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2413–2426, 1997. Neuronal activity in primary motor cortex (MI) is altered when monkeys make reaching movements along similar handpaths at shoulder level with two different arm orientations, either in the natural orientation with the elbow positioned below the level of the shoulder and hand or in an abducted orientation with the elbow abducted nearly to shoulder level. The present study examines to what degree two other cortical areas, the dorsal premotor (PMd) and parietal area 5, also show modulation of cell activity related to arm geometry during reaching. The activity of most (89%) of the 207 cells in PMd recorded while monkeys made reaching movements showed a statistically significant change in activity between orientations [analysis of variation (ANOVA), P < 0.01]. A common effect of arm orientation on cell activity was a change in the overall level of discharge either before, during, and/or after movement (67%, ANOVA, task main effect, P < 0.01). Many cells (76%) showed a statistical change in their response to movement direction (ANOVA, task × direction interaction term, P < 0.01), including changes in dynamic range and changes in the preferred direction of cells that were directionally tuned in both arm orientations. Overall, these effects were similar qualitatively but not as strong quantitatively as those observed in MI. A sample of cells was recorded in area 5 of one monkey. Most (95%) of the 79 area 5 cells showed a change in activity when reaching movements were performed using different arm orientations (ANOVA, P < 0.01). As in PMd and MI, many area 5 cells (56, 71%) showed changes in their tonic discharge before, during, and/or after movement, and 70 cells (89%) showed changes in their response to movement direction (ANOVA, task × direction interaction term, P < 0.01). The observed changes in neuronal activity related to posture and movement in MI, PMd and area 5 demonstrate that single-cell activity in these cortical areas is not simply related to the spatial attributes of hand trajectory but is also strongly influenced by attributes of movement related to arm geometry.

Matching Patterns of Activity in Primate Prefrontal Area 8a and Parietal Area 7ip Neurons During a Spatial Working MemoryTask

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 2919-2940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew V. Chafee ◽  
Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Striking Similarity ◽  
Prefrontal Area ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Parietal Area ◽  
Spatial Tuning ◽  
Posterior Parietal

Chafee, Matthew V. and Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic. Matching patterns of activity in primate prefrontal area 8a and parietal area 7ip neurons during a spatial working memory task. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 2919–2940, 1998. Single-unit recording studies of posterior parietal neurons have indicated a similarity of neuronal activation to that observed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in relation to performance of delayed saccade tasks. A key issue addressed in the present study is whether the different classes of neuronal activity observed in these tasks are encountered more frequently in one or the other area or otherwise exhibit region-specific properties. The present study is the first to directly compare these patterns of neuronal activity by alternately recording from parietal area 7ip and prefrontal area 8a, under the identical behavioral conditions, within the same hemisphere of two monkeys performing an oculomotor delayed response task. The firing rate of 222 posterior parietal and 235 prefrontal neurons significantly changed during the cue, delay, and/or saccade periods of the task. Neuronal responses in the two areas could be distinguished only by subtle differences in their incidence and timing. Thus neurons responding to the cue appeared earliest and were more frequent among the task-related neurons within parietal cortex, whereas neurons exhibiting delay-period activity accounted for a larger proportion of task-related neurons in prefrontal cortex. Otherwise, the task-related neuronal activities were remarkably similar. Cue period activity in prefrontal and parietal cortex exhibited comparable spatial tuning and temporal duration characteristics, taking the form of phasic, tonic, or combined phasic/tonic excitation in both cortical populations. Neurons in both cortical areas exhibited sustained activity during the delay period with nearly identical spatial tuning. The various patterns of delay-period activity—tonic, increasing or decreasing, alone or in combination with greater activation during cue and/or saccade periods—likewise were distributed to both cortical areas. Finally, similarities in the two populations extended to the proportion and spatial tuning of presaccadic and postsaccadic neuronal activity occurring in relation to the memory-guided saccade. The present findings support and extend evidence for a faithful duplication of receptive field properties and virtually every other dimension of task-related activity observed when parietal and prefrontal cortex are recruited to a common task. This striking similarity attests to the principal that information shared by a prefrontal region and a sensory association area with which it is connected is domain specific and not subject to hierarchical elaboration, as is evident at earlier stages of visuospatial processing.

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