Non-spatial, motor-specific activation in posterior parietal cortex

Jeffrey L. Calton, Anthony R. Dickinson, Lawrence H. Snyder

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

177 Scopus citations

Abstract

A localized cluster of neurons in macaque posterior parietal cortex, termed the parietal reach region (PRR), is activated when a reach is planned to a visible or remembered target. To explore the role of PRR in sensorimotor transformations, we tested whether cells would be activated when a reach is planned to an as-yet unspecified goal. Over one-third of PRR cells increased their firing after an instruction to prepare a reach, but not after an instruction to prepare a saccade, when the target of the movement remained unknown. A partially overlapping population (two-thirds of cells) was activated when the monkey was informed of the target location but not the type of movement to be made. Thus a subset of PRR neurons separately code spatial and effector-specific information, consistent with a role in specifying potential motor responses to particular targets.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)580-588
Number of pages9
JournalNature neuroscience
Volume5
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

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