Skip to main content
Log in

Peripheral afferent inputs to the forelimb area of the monkey motor cortex: Input-output relations

  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

  1. 1.

    Peripheral inputs to cortical efferent zones projecting to distal forelimb muscles were examined in Cebus monkey by using one microelectrode both for low intensity intracortical stimulation and for recording cellular discharges.

  2. 2.

    Efferent zones within the motor cortex received afferent inputs from skin, joint and muscle receptors.

  3. 3.

    A given efferent zone received afferent inputs from receptors in muscles as well as joints involved in the movement produced by microstimulation within that zone.

  4. 4.

    Cells activated by tactile stimuli had receptive fields almost exclusively on the glabrous volar surface of the hand and lay within cortical efferent zones projecting to finger flexor muscles.

  5. 5.

    The region of low threshold efferent zones which projected to distal forelimb muscles was found to coincide with a region receiving short latency afferent input from group II cutaneous and deep afferents. Group I muscle afferents projected to an adjacent area of the cortex.

  6. 6.

    The organization of motor cortex in cat and monkey was compared with particular reference to input-output relations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albe-Fessard, D., Liebeskind, J.: Origine des messages somato-sensitifs activant les cellules du cortex moteur chez le Singe. Exp. Brain Res.1, 127–146 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  • Asanuma, H., Sakata, H.: Functional organization of a cortical efferent system examined with focal depth stimulation in cats. J. Neurophysiol.30, 35–54 (1967).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Ward, J.E.: Patterns of interaction between contraction of distal forelimb muscles produced by intracortical stimulation in cats. Brain Res.27, 97–109 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Stoney, S.D., Jr., Abzug, C.: Relationship between afferent input and motor outflow in cat motorsensory cortex. J. Neurophysiol.31, 670–681 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Rosén, I.: Topographical organization of cortical efferent zones projecting to distal forelimb muscles in monkeys. Exp. Brain Res.14, 243–256 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, V.B., Stoney, S.D., Jr.: Motor mechanisms: The role of the pyramidal system in motor control. Ann. Rev. Physiol.33, 337–392 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Rudomin, P., Slayman, C.L.: Sensory activation of neurons in the cat's cerebral cortex. J. Neurophysiol.24, 286–301 (1961a).

    Google Scholar 

  • — — —: Peripheral receptive fields of neurons in the cat's cerebral cortex. J. Neurophysiol.24, 302–325 (1961b).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Information processing in the motorsensory cortex. In: Information Processing in the Nervous System, pp. 231–243. Ed. by K.N. Leibovic. New York: Springer, pp. 373, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denny-Brown, D.: Motor mechanisms-introduction: the general prinicples of motor integration In: Handbook of Physiology, Sect. I, Neurophysiology, ed. by J. Field,2, pp. 781–796. Washington, D.C. Amer. Physiol. Soc., pp. 1439, 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Disintegration of motor function resulting from cerebral lesions. J. nerv. ment. Dis.112, 1–45 (1950).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fetz, E.E., Baker, M.A.: Response properties of precentral neurons in awake monkeys. Physiologist12, 223 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberger, M.E.: The extrapyramidal systems of the spinal cord. II. Results of combined pyramidal and extrapyramidal lesions in the macaque. J. comp. Neurol.135, 1–26 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldring, S., Aras, E., Weber, P.C.: Comparative study of sensory input to motor cortex in animals and man. Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol.29, 537–550 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, J.F., Coxe, W.S.: Representation of cutaneous tactile sensibility in cerebral cortex ofCEBUS. J. Neurophysiol.21, 481–498 (1958).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruger, L.: Characteristics of the somatic afferent projection to the precentral cortex in the monkey. Amer. J. Physiol.186, 475–482 (1956).

    Google Scholar 

  • Malis, L.I., Pribram, K.H., Kruger, L.: Action potentials in motor cortex evoked by peripheral nerve stimulation. J. Neurophysiol.16, 161–167 (1953).

    Google Scholar 

  • Oscarsson, O., Rosén, I.: Projection to cerebral cortex of large muscle spindle afferents in forelimb nerves of the cat. J. Physiol. (Lond.)169, 924–945 (1963).

    Google Scholar 

  • — —: Short latency projections to the cat's cerebral cortex from skin and muscle afferents in the contralateral forelimb. J. Physiol. (Lond.)182, 164–184 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, C.G., Powell, T.P.S., Wiesendanger, M.: Projection from low-threshold muscle afferents of hand and dorearm to area 3a of baboon's cortex. J. Physiol. (Lond.)210, 59P-60P (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakata, H., Miyamoto, J.: Topographic relationship between the receptive fields of neurons in the motor cortex and the movements elicited by focal stimulation in freely moving cats. Jap. J. Physiol.18, 489–507 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyffarth, H., Denny-Brown, D.: The grasp reflex and the instinctive grasp reaction. Brain71, 109–183 (1948).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoney, S.D., Jr., Thompson, W.D., Asanuma, H.: Excitation of pyramidal tract cells by intracortical microstimulation: effective extent of stimulating current. J. Neurophysiol.31, 659–669 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Towe, A.L.: Neuronal population behavior in the somatosensory systems. In: The Skin Senses, pp. 552–574. Ed. by D.R. Kenshalo. Springfield, Illinois: C.C. Thomas, pp. 636, 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Whithorn, D., Nyquist, J.K.: Differential activity among wide-field neurons of the cat postcruciate cerebral cortex. Exp. Neurol.20, 497–521 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Twitchell, T.E.: The restoration of motor function following hemiplegia in man. Brain74, 443–480 (1951).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The automatic grasping responses of infants. Neuropsychologia3, 247–259 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall, P.D.: The sensory and motor role of impulses travelling in the dorsal columns towards cerebral cortex. Brain93, 505–524 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Welt, C., Aschoff, J.C., Kameda, K., Brooks, V.B.: Intracortical organization of cat's motorsensory neurons. In: Neurophysiological Basis of Normal and Abnormal Motor Activities, pp. 255–293. Ed. by M.D. Yahr, D.P. Purpura. Hewlett, New York: Raven Press, pp. 500, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, I.D.: A triple representation of the body surface in the sensorimotor cortex of the squirrel monkey. Exp. Neurol.20, 415–431 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rosén, I., Asanuma, H. Peripheral afferent inputs to the forelimb area of the monkey motor cortex: Input-output relations. Exp Brain Res 14, 257–273 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00816162

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00816162

Key words

Navigation