Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research(基盤研究(C))
Date (from‐to) : 2003 -2004
Author : Masahiko INASE; Ken-ichi OSHIO
In order to examine functional roles of the prefrontal cortex in arbitrary visuomotor association, we recorded neuronal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, area 9m, of a behaving monkey during conditional visuomotor learning. The monkey was presented a cueing visual stimulus, and following a delay period required to push, pull, or turn a manipulator according to the cue. Under the control condition three cues instructed the monkey to the three responses in a block of trials. After a few months of training the animal was familiar with these associations. Under the learning condition, two of the three familiar cues and one novel cue were presented in a block. The monkey needed to learn a new cue-response association by trial and error. Area 9m neurons responded to cue presentation. The Cue responses changed whether a cue was familiar or novel. A group of area 9m neurons responded to a novel cue, bur not to familiar ones. Other group of neurons responded to familiar cues, but not to a novel one. In a subgroup of these familiar cue-selective neurons the cue responses were enhanced under the learning condition compared to the control condition. These results suggest that cue familiarity is represented in area 9m activity and/or that the activity may be involved in action selection during the arbitrary visuomotor association learning.