Licking behavior: evidence of hypoglossal oscillator.
Action potentials and slow waves were recorded from the hypoglossal nucleus of rats during licking of water from a drinking tube. Periods of licking and of rhythmic neural activity were usually highly correlated, as were their frequencies. Neural activity sometimes continued after cessation of licking; at other times, it stopped during a short interruption of licking and resumed in rhythm with licking. These observations are consistent with an oscillatory model of the control of licking.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000502:physiology*; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010507:Periodicity; D051381:Rats; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology*