Summary
Can evolving motor commands be interrupted by changes in sensory signals that triggered them? We investigated this problem by observing the changes in single cell activity in the motor cortex of monkeys, changes that preceded movement of the hand toward a visual target. We found that this activity was interrupted following a shift of the target during the reaction or movement time and replaced by the pattern activity related to the movement towards the new target. This suggests that motor cortical commands subserving aimed arm movements are processes that can be interrupted in the course of their formation and/or execution by changes in afferent controlling inputs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abend W, Bizzi E, Morasso P (1982) Human arm trajectory formation. Brain 105: 331–348
Bertelson P (1966) Central intermittency twenty years later. Q J Exp Psychol 18: 153–163
Brooks VB (1979) Motor programs revisited. In: Talbott RE, Humphrey DR (eds) Posture and movement. Raven Press, New York, pp 13–49
Critchley M (1953) The parietal lobes. E. Arnold, London
Davis R (1956) The limits of the “psychological refractory period”. Q J Exp Psychol 8: 24–38
Ettlinger G, Kalsbeck JE (1962) Changes in tactile discrimination and in visual reaching after successive and simultaneous bilateral posterior parietal ablations in the monkey. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 25: 256–268
Evarts EV (1966) Pyramidal tract activity associated with a conditioned hand movement in the monkey. J Neurophysiol 29: 1011–1027
Evarts EV (1981) Role of the motor cortex in voluntary movements in primates. In: Handbook of physiology. The nervous system, sect 1, vol II, part 2. Am Physiol Soc, Bethesda, MD, pp 1083–1120
Fitts PM, Switzer G (1962) Cognitive aspects of information processing: I. The faimiliarity of S-R sets and subsets. J Exp Psychol 63: 321–329
Georgopoulos AP, Kalaska JF, Massey JT (1981) Spatial trajectories and reaction times of aimed movement: Effect of practice, uncertainty, and change in target location. J Neurophysiol 46: 725–743
Georgopoulos AP, Kalaska JF, Caminiti R, Massey JT (1982) On the relations between the direction of two-dimensional arm movements and cell discharge in primate motor cortex. J Neurosci 2: 1527–1537
Georgopoulos AP, Caminiti R, Kalaska JF, Massey JT (1983) Spatial coding of movement: A hypothesis concerning the coding of movement direction by motor cortical populations. In: Massion J, Paillard J, Schultz W, Wiesendanger M (eds) Neural coding of motor performance. Exp Brain Res [Suppl] VII: (in press)
Howell AB, Straus WL (1933) The muscular system. In: Hartman EG, Straus WL (eds) The anatomy of the rhesus monkey. Hafner, New York, pp 89–175
Humphrey DR (1979) On the cortical control of visually directed reaching: Contributions by nonprecentral motor areas. In: Talbot RE, Humphrey DR (eds) Posture and movement. Raven Press, New York, pp 51–112
Kalaska JF, Massey JT, Georgopoulos AP (1980) Cortical mechanisms of two-dimensional aiming arm movements. II. Change of target location. Soc Neurosci Abstr 6: 156
Keele SW (1968) Movement control in skilled motor performance. Psychol Bull 70: 287–403
Keele SW (1981) Behavioral analysis of movement. In: Handbook of physiology. The nervous system, sect 1, vol II, part 2. Am Physiol Soc, Bethesda, MD, pp 1391–1414
LaMotte RH, Acuna C (1978) Defects in accuracy of reaching after removal of posterior parietal cortex in monkeys. Brain Res 139: 309–326
Lashley KS (1967) The problem of serial order in behavior. In: Jeffress LA (ed) Cerebral mechanisms in behavior. Hafner, New York, pp 123–146
Massey JT, Caminiti R, Kalaska JF, Georgopoulos AP (1981) Cortical mechanisms of two-dimensional aimed arm movements. VI. Electromyographic analysis. Soc Neurosci Abstr 7: 563
Moll L, Kuypers HGJM (1977) Premotor cortical ablations in monkeys: Contralateral changes in visually guided reaching behavior. Science 198: 317–319
Morasso P (1981) Spatial control of arm movements. Exp Brain Res 42: 223–227
Mountcastle VB, Lynch JC, Georgopoulos AP, Sakata H, Acuna C (1975) Posterior parietal association cortex of the monkey: Command functions for operations within extrapersonal space. J Neurophysiol 38: 871–908
Snedecor GW, Cochran WG (1967) Statistical methods. 6th ed, Iowa State Univ. Press, Ames, IA
Soechting JF, Laquaniti F (1981) Invariant characteristics of a pointing movement in man. J Neurosci 1: 710–720
Welford AT (1952) The “psychological refractory period” and the timing of high-speed performance. A review and a theory. Br J Psychol 43: 2–19
Welford AT (1959) Evidence for a single channel decision mechanism limiting performance in a serial reaction task. Q J Exp Psychol 11: 193–210
Wiesendanger M (1981) Organization of secondary motor areas of cerebral cortex. In: Handbook of physiology. The nervous system, sect 1, vol II, part 2. Am Physiol Soc, Bethesda, MD, pp 1121–1148
Woolsey CN, Settlage PH, Meyer DR, Spencer W, Hamuy P, Travis AM (1950) Patterns of localization in the precentral and “supplementary” motor area, and their relation to the concept of a premotor area. Res Publ Assoc Res Nerv Ment Dis 30: 238–264
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by United States Public Health Service Grants NS17413, EY03167 and NS07226, which we gratefully acknowledge
Postdoctoral Fellow of the Medical Research Council of Canada, 1978–81.
CNR-NATO Fellow, 1980–81. Howell-Cannon Foreign Scholar, 1981–82.
William S. Parsons Visiting Professor, 1978–79.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Georgopoulos, A.P., Kalaska, J.F., Caminiti, R. et al. Interruption of motor cortical discharge subserving aimed arm movements. Exp Brain Res 49, 327–340 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238775
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238775