RESPONSES OF STRIATAL NEURONS IN THE BEHAVING MONKEY. 1. HEAD OF THE CAUDATE NUCLEUS

SUMMARY The activity of 394 neurons in the head of the caudate nucleus and the most anterior part of the putamen was analyzed in 3 behaving rhesus monkeys in order to analyze the functions of this part of the striatum. Of these neurons, 64.2?/0 responded in the tests used in relation to, for example, environmental events, movements made by the monkey, the performance of a visual discrimination, or during feeding. However, only relatively small proportions of these neurons had responses which were unconditionally related to visual (9.6 ~), auditory (3.5 ~o), or gustatory (0.5 ~o ) stimuli, or to movements (4.1 ~o). Instead, the majority of the responsive neurons had activity in relation to stimuli or movements which was conditional, in that the responses occurred in only some test situations, and were often dependent on the performance of a task by the monkeys. Thus, it was found in the visual discrimination task that 14.5 ~o of the neurons responded during a 0.5 see tone/light cue period which signalled the start of each trial; 31.1 ~o responded in the period in which the discriminative visual stimuli were shown, with 24.3~ of these responding more to either the visual stimulus which signified food reward or to that which signified punishment; and 6.2~o responded in relation to lick responses. Yet these neurons typically did not respond in relation to the cue stimuli, to the visual stimuli, or to movements, when these occurred independently of the task, or when performance of the task was prevented. Comparably, of the neurons tested during feeding, 25.8?/o responded when the food was seen by the monkey, 6.2~o when he tasted it, and 22.4~o during a cue given by the experimenter that a food or non-food object was about to be

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