A pathway in primate brain for internal monitoring of movements.
It is essential to keep track of the movements we make, and one way to do that is to monitor correlates, or corollary discharges, of neuronal movement commands. We hypothesized that a previously identified pathway from brainstem to frontal cortex might carry corollary discharge signals. We found that neuronal activity in this pathway encodes upcoming eye movements and that inactivating the pathway impairs sequential eye movements consistent with loss of corollary discharge without affecting single eye movements. These results identify a pathway in the brain of the primate Macaca mulatta that conveys corollary discharge signals.
Sommer
Marc A
MA
Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. mas@lsr.nei.nih.gov
Wurtz
Robert H
RH
D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D018755:GABA Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D020645:Mediodorsal Thalamic Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009118:Muscimol / Q000494:pharmacology; D009434:Neural Pathways; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology*
D018755:GABA Agonists; D009118:Muscimol