Download Slide ()

The activity of functionally distinct parietal motor neurons varies with the purpose of a grasping action. (Modified, with permission, from Fogassi et al.
2005.)
A. Apparatus and protocol for the experiment. A monkey is trained to press a button (start position) and reach and grasp a piece of food (1) either to bring
it to the mouth (2a) or to place it into a container (2b). In the first condition the monkey eats the food brought to the mouth, whereas in the second it
receives a food reward after the correct response.
B. Activity ofSource:
three neurons
in the
inferior parietal
cortexand
during
the twoCortex,
actions.
Cell 1 discharges
strongly
Voluntary
Movement:
The Parietal
Premotor
Principles
of Neural more
Science,
Fifth when
Editonthe monkey grasps the food to eat it
than when it Citation:
grasps the
food
simply
to
move
it.
The
behavior
of
cell
2
is
the
opposite.
Cell
3
shows
no
difference
between
the two Fifth
actions.
Raster
plots
and
Kandel ER, Schwartz JH, Jessell TM, Siegelbaum SA, Hudspeth AJ, Mack S. Principles of Neural Science,
Editon;
2012
Available
histograms are aligned
with
the
moment
when
the
monkey
touches
the
object
to
be
grasped.
Orange
tics
indicate
when
the
monkey
releases
its
hand
from
at: http://mhmedical.com/ Accessed: May 15, 2017
the button at Copyright
the starting
green tics Education.
indicate when
the hand
touches the container.
© position;
2017 McGraw-Hill
All rights
reserved