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A cognitive signal for the proactive timing of action in macaque LIP

Nature Neuroscience volume 9, pages 948–955 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Natural movements often occur without any immediate external event to cause them. In contrast to reactive movements, which are directly triggered by external cues, it is less clear how these proactive actions are initiated or when they will be made. We found that single neurons in the macaque's lateral intraparietal area (LIP) exhibit gradual firing rate elevations that reach a consistent value—which may correspond to a threshold—at the time of proactive, but not reactive, arm movements. This activity differs from sensory- and motor-related activity recorded in nearby cortical areas and could provide an internal trigger for action when abrupt external triggers in the visual input are unavailable.

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Figure 1: Behavioral task and neuronal recording sites.
Figure 2: Structural T1-weighted MRI images and recording sites.
Figure 3: Neuronal activity aligned to the time at which the dot turned.
Figure 4: Neuronal activity aligned to the start of dot motion and grouped by time of arm movement.
Figure 5: Functional bimodality in LIP.
Figure 6: Single-neuron activity in LIP is consistent with a variable rate of rise to threshold.
Figure 7: Neuronal activity 300 ms before the lever press.
Figure 8: Proactive timing activity does not correlate with delay period modulation in a memory saccade task.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Maimon, T. Herrington, A. Fanini, D. Freedman, C. Padoa-Schioppa and A. Hoffius for comments on the manuscript. K. Irwin, T. LaFratta, M. LaFratta, J. LeBlanc and D. Averbuch provided technical assistance. This work was supported by grant EY12106 from the National Eye Institute, the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, and by a predoctoral National Science Foundation fellowship to G.M.

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  1. Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, 220 Longwood Avenue, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Gaby Maimon & John A Assad

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Correspondence to John A Assad.

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Maimon, G., Assad, J. A cognitive signal for the proactive timing of action in macaque LIP. Nat Neurosci 9, 948–955 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1716

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