Preparation for movement in the cat. I. Unit activity in the cerebral cortex.
Single unit activity was recorded from the 'motor' cortex of cats during performance of a forelimb flexion movement. Two classes of cortical neurons were defined with respect to the onset of electrographic activity associated with this movement. 'Early' unit, first showing changes in firing rates more than 0.5 sec prior to the movement, were found almost exclusively in the medial precruciate cortex. The lateral cortex appears to be made up almost uniformly of 'late' unit, that is, neurons whose activities are more closely related with the actual movement. The medial cortex, on the other hand, contains both 'early' and 'late' units and thus may have the additional function of participating in the neural system which is the substrate for response set.
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D004576:Electromyography; D005552:Forelimb / Q000502:physiology; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology