title: The chronometry of single neuron activity: testing discrete and continuous models of information processing.
abstract: The authors propose to study information transmission by comparing the effects of experimental factors on reaction time (RT) with the latency of the changes in activity of single-neurons. An experiment was conducted in which a monkey (Macaca mulatta) performed a tactilo-manual 2-choice RT task and the compatibility of the stimulus-response mapping was manipulated. Task-related neurons were recorded in the monkey's primary somesthetic and motor cortices. The changes in activity of 105 of these neurons were classified either as sensory-like or as motor-like. The sensory-like changes occurred before the motor-like ones. The stimulus-response mapping exerted its entire effect on the RT after the sensory-like changes and before the motor-like ones. These findings suggest that the information was transmitted discretely from the processes affected by the mapping to the processes implemented by the motor-like changes.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherches en Neurosciences Cognitives, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mouret
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasbroucq
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D002909:Chronobiology Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time