Abstract
What aspects of movement are represented in the primary motor cortex
(M1): relatively low-level parameters like muscle force, or more
abstract parameters like handpath? To examine this issue, the activity
of neurons in M1 was recorded in a monkey trained to perform a task
that dissociates three major variables of wrist movement: muscle
activity, direction of movement at the wrist joint, and direction
of movement in space. A substantial group of neurons in M1 (28 out
of 88) displayed changes in activity that were muscle-like. Unexpectedly,
an even larger group of neurons in M1 (44 out of 88) displayed changes
in activity that were related to the direction of wrist movement
in space independent of the pattern of muscle activity that generated
the movement. Thus, both ?muscles? and ?movements? appear to be strongly
represented in M1.
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