Spatial selectivity of go/no-go neurons in monkey prefrontal cortex

Exp Brain Res. 1994;100(1):165-9. doi: 10.1007/BF00227290.

Abstract

We examined single-unit activity in the inferior prefrontal cortex during a visual go/no-go discrimination task under maintained visual fixation. The monkeys had to base their response on either the color, shape, or position of a discriminative cue, and the relevant task condition was indicated by the color of the fixation spot. We analyzed the spatial selectivity of 128 go/no-go neurons showing a marked differential cue-period activity that depended on whether the stimulus signaled a go or no-go response. Most of these neurons (n = 106, 83%) showed asymmetry between their responses to stimuli in the contralateral and ipsilateral visual fields. Seventy-seven of these neurons had a contralateral preferential field, and 29 had an ipsilateral preferential field. These results show that in many inferior prefrontal neurons a degree of differentiation in their responses to go and no-go stimuli depends on the cue positions, and that the coding of behavioral meaning is carried out mainly in the contralateral hemisphere.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Color Perception / physiology
  • Cues
  • Fixation, Ocular / physiology
  • Form Perception / physiology
  • Macaca
  • Male
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Prefrontal Cortex / cytology
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology*
  • Space Perception / physiology*