title: Role for cells in the presupplementary motor area in updating motor plans.
abstract: Two motor areas are known to exist in the medial frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex of primates, the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA). We report here on an aspect of cellular activity that characterizes the pre-SMA. Monkeys were trained to perform three different movements sequentially in a temporal order. The correct order was planned on the basis of visual information before its execution. A group of pre-SMA cells (n = 64, 25%) were active during a process when monkeys were required to discard a current motor plan and develop a plan appropriate for the next orderly movements. Such activity was not common in the SMA and not found in the primary motor cortex. Our data suggest a role of pre-SMA cells in updating motor plans for subsequent temporally ordered movements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shima
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mushiake
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tanji
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D008251:Macaca; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology