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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6
pubmed:dateCreated
2006-11-19
pubmed:abstractText
Neurons in premotor and motor cortex show preparatory activity during an instructed-delay task. It has been suggested that such activity primarily reflects visuospatial aspects of the movement, such as target location or reach direction and extent. We asked whether a more dynamic feature, movement speed, is also reflected. Two monkeys were trained to reach at different speeds ("slow" or "fast," peak speed being approximately 50-100% higher for the latter) depending on target color. Targets were presented in seven directions and at two distances. Of 95 neurons with tuned delay-period activity, 95, 78, and 94% showed a significant influence of direction, distance, and instructed speed, respectively. Average peak modulations with respect to direction, distance and speed were 18, 10, and 11 spikes/s. Although robust, modulations of firing rate with target direction were not necessarily invariant: for 45% of neurons, the preferred direction depended significantly on target distance and/or instructed speed. We collected an additional dataset, examining in more detail the effect of target distance (5 distances from 3 to 12 cm in 2 directions). Of 41 neurons with tuned delay-period activity, 85, 83, and 98% showed a significant impact of direction, distance, and instructed speed. Statistical interactions between the effects of distance and instructed speed were common, but it was nevertheless clear that distance "tuning" was not in general a simple consequence of speed tuning. We conclude that delay-period preparatory activity robustly reflects a nonspatial aspect of the upcoming reach. However, it is unclear whether the recorded neural responses conform to any simple reference frame, intrinsic or extrinsic.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Dec
pubmed:issn
0022-3077
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
96
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
3130-46
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2006
pubmed:articleTitle
Preparatory activity in premotor and motor cortex reflects the speed of the upcoming reach.
pubmed:affiliation
Neurosciences Program and Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4075, USA. church@stanford.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural