Abstract
The responses of motor cortex neurons in the cat to the presentation of a single auditory click and a series of 10 clicks presented with 1,000/sec frequency were studied under conditions of chronic experiments before and after the development of an instrumental food reflex. After reflex development a single presentation of a positive conditioned stimulus (single click) markedly influenced for 7 sec the appearance of instrumental movements. At the same time, the immediate responses of motor cortex neurons to presentation of the conditioned auditory stimulus had no impact on the appearance in the motor cortex of discharges leading to the realization of instrumental movements. Consequently, motor cortex neurons do not require activation from afferent sensory inputs for the generation of such discharges. The immediate neuronal responses to conditioned stimulation did not inhibit the realization of the instrumental reflex. It is proposed that they are associated with the realization of motor function in the unconditioned defensive response evoked by the presentation of an auditory stimulus. The presence or absence of responses to auditory conditioned stimulation was dependent upon the signal meaning of the stimulus, its physical parameters, and the degree of excitability of the animal.
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A. A. Bogomolets Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 539–550, July–August, 1985.
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Tal'nov, A.N. Responses of motor cortex neurons of the cat to auditory stimulation and their role in the instrumental food reflex. Neurophysiology 17, 393–402 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052353
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01052353