We have studied the neurophysiology of the frontal lobe of primates by developing novel behavioral methods. These methods distinguish neuronal activity related to sensory and perceptual processes from those involved in the selection and control of behavior by controlling covert as well as overt behavioral variables. Specifically, during the past year we have continued testing the hypothesis that the premotor areas, such as the supplementary eye field (SEF), play a role in the selection of action on the basis of nonstandard stimulus-response associations, whereas other areas, perhaps including the primary motor cortex (M1), plays a role in the standard mapping of inputs to outputs. This fiscal year, we have focused on two kinds of motor learning: conditional oculomotor learning and skill learning. We have also been engaged in theoretical work that attempts to comprehend the cooperative actions of distributed neural modules in the selection and control of behavior.
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