title: Neuronal activity within the nucleus basalis and conditioned neocortical electroencephalographic activation.
abstract: The relationship between neuronal activity within the nucleus basalis (NB) and conditioned neocortical EEG activation was investigated in New Zealand rabbits during Pavlovian differential conditioning. Twenty-seven of 56 neurons recorded in conditioned animals demonstrated a significantly greater change in activity to a tone (CS+) that predicted the occurrence of a mildly aversive unconditioned stimulus when compared to a tone (CS-) that did not. Twenty-four of these 27 neurons demonstrated a significant increase in activity to the CS+ compared to the CS-, while the remaining three neurons demonstrated a significant decrease in activity to the CS+ compared to the CS-. In 24 of these 27 neurons (89%) these changes in neuronal activity during CS presentations correlated significantly with a decrease in the power of delta activity in the EEG. In addition, 13 of these 24 neurons (54%) demonstrated significant correlations between neuronal activity and the power of delta activity during CS-free periods. In experimentally naive animals, the activity of 10 of 22 neurons (45%) recorded within the region of the NB correlated with the power of delta activity in the EEG during stimulus-free periods. These results complement a growing body of evidence and provide strong support for the hypothesis that the NB contributes to neocortical activation in the conscious animal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Whalen
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kapp
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Pascoe
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004569:Electroencephalography; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D012016:Reference Values