CONDITIONED REFLEXES ESTABLISHED TO ELECTRICAL STIMULATION OF CAT CEREBRAL CORTEX

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Abstract
Stimulation through permanently implanted cortical electrodes served as readily for conditional stimulus for foreleg flexion to a criterion of 15/25 as did tonal or photic stimuli. Of 85 cortical points assayed, 15 did not yield this criterion, but within the marginal, postlateral, middle suprasylvian and middle and posterior ectosylvian gyri no areas were found "silent" in this regard. Since it is possible to establish conditioned reflexes to electrical stimulation of the dura mater, with no outward evidence of pain and with the use of the same parameters as for the cortical conditioning, caution is necessary in interpreting a response as arising exclusively from direct excitation of cortical neurons. However, this potential source of artifact can be circumvented or detected. Bilateral trigeminal neurotomy effectively denervated the regions pertinent to this study and did not disturb responses conditioned to cortical stimulation. Proof of both the adequacy of controls and the reality of direct cortical conditioning makes possible a variety of neurophysiological experiments on the role of the cortical system in learned behavior.