Temporal characteristics of torque-triggered neuronal responses in primate precentral cortex

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Abstract
Adult monkeys were trained to perform a restorative movement about the wrist following a torque disturbance. The movement was guided by visual information on a video display. Recordings were made from single neurons in the forelimb area of precentral cortex. Individual neurons were identified with respect to functional coupling to single forelimb joints by means of passive sensory stimulation and intracortical microstimulation. Neurons were classified as wrist (flexion–extension (F–E)) and nonwrist (F–E). Statistical analyses of activities of these two populations revealed that those belonging to the wrist (F–E) population exhibited a lower response variability than those belonging to the nonwrist (F–E) neurons. This was true with respect to both the sensory event (perturbation) and the motor event (restorative movement) at the wrist. The results thus provide additional evidence in support of the hypothesis that neuronal populations in precentral cortex which are somatotopically identified are preferentially utilized in voluntary motor tasks.