Control of Motor Activity at the Thalamic Level of the Cat

Abstract

A number of studies have convincingly shown that certain thalamic nuclei are somehow involved in the neural organization of motor behavior.The experimental analysis of complex motor mechanisms at the thalamic level seems to be important considering that co-ordinated complex locomotor patterns - resembling the normal motor activities of the animal - can be elicited by electrical stimulation only at the mesodiencephalic level (Waller, 1940; Hunter and Jasper, 1949; Hess, 1957; Doty, 1961; Koella, 1962; Delgado, 1964; Grastyán, Czopf, Ángyán and Szabó, 1965). In a series of previous experiments using electrical stimulation and different behavioral techniques, characteristic differences were found in the functioning of the anterior and posterior groups of nonspecific thalamic nuclei (Ángyán and Grastyán, 1965; Grastyán and Ángyán, 1967). The aim of the present study was to obtain further information about the role of thalamic nuclei especially in the initiation and performance of a complex locomotor task.