The long-term objective of this research is to study forebrain mechanisms involved in the initiation of movement. Extracellular recording from single neurons of the cerebral frontal lobe will be performed in alert monkeys. The neural signals will be analyzed in relation with eye and head movements measured by the magnetic search coil technique. The animals will be trained to acquire, pursue and anticipate visual targets presented on a screen, and to search for visual cues in a complex array of stimuli. Single neuron activity will be observed during the movements required by these tasks and movements occurring spontaneously.
The aim i s to understand how target location is encoded and proper commands are derived to specify the goal of s gaze movement. The region of frontal lobe presently explored is dorsomedial frontal cortex rostral to the supplementary motor area. This region will be mapped in order to recognize a possible functional organization and determine the principles of such an organization. Its afferent and efferent connections will be studied using anatomical tracers. The effects of chemical lesions on visuomotor behavior will be studied.
