Response of Neurones in the Motor Cortex during Performance of a Simple Repetitive Arm Movement

Abstract

ANALYSIS of the firing pattern of single cells in the brains of unanaesthetized animals promises to be a useful approach towards understanding brain mechanisms involved in the control of movement. Evarts¹, studying reaction time in monkeys, observed that the firing rate of some pyramidal-tract neurones changes before the electromyographic potential associated with the behavioural response. Evarts's study provided valuable data on the response latency of pyramidal tract cell discharge before a conditioned arm movement. The reaction time task with non-human subjects has the disadvantage that protracted training is necessary to establish fast and stable responses², and relatively few behavioural responses are available each day for analysis in relation to unit activity.