The purpose of this project is to examine the internal organizations and the interrelationship among motor areas of the frontal lobe, including the primary motor cortex (MI), the supplementary motor cortex (SM), the frontal eye fields (FEF), the supplementary eye fields (SEF) and the premotor cortex (PM). The model species chosen for study is the rhesus monkey, because these motor areas have been best characterized in this species. In the first part of this project intracortical microstimulation is being employed to study the efferent topography of the cortical areas listed above. For the second part of the project single-unit recording is being employed to examine the possible involvement of the premotor cortex in learning new stimulus-response relationships. The goal of the first part is to understand the organization of the motor outputs of each cortical area. The second part will contribute to the understanding of the cortical motor areas in recall and execution of learned motor behaviors.
