Dynamic Analysis of Information Processing in Brain for Reaching Movements

猴子的腹侧前运动皮层（PMv）被认为对手臂运动施加双侧控制。然而，最近有人提出，PMv是空间视觉输入转换为运动指令的场所。那么，与双侧手臂运动的表观关系可以被认为是一个更接近于来自两个视觉半野的输入的神经过程。另一方面，如果神经处理更接近最终的运动指令，则神经元活动预计与对侧手臂运动更密切相关。为了检验这些可能性，在存在将视觉与运动空间分离的移位棱镜的情况下，两只猴子被训练用右臂或左臂到达视觉呈现的目标，在目标呈现之前，听觉线索指示哪只手臂应该用于任务。三种类型的运动相关的活动记录在PMv：第一个反映视觉，但不是运动，空间（V神经元）;第二个反映运动，但不是视觉，空间（M神经元）;第三个是中间。V倾向于与双侧和M神经元对侧手臂运动。研究结果似乎支持上述观点的作用PMV视觉引导手臂运动。

The ventral premotor cortex (PMv)' of monkeys has been assumed to exert bilateral control over arm movements. However, it has been suggested recently that the PMv is the site where spatial visual inputs are transformed to moter commands. Then, an apperent relation to bilateral arm movements may be regarded as a neural process closer to the inputs from both visual hemifields. On the other hand, if neural processing is closer to the final motor commands, neuronal activity is expected to be more closely related to contralateral arm movements. To examine these possibilities, in the presence of shift prisms that dissociated visual from motor space, two monkeys were trained to reach a visually presented target by either their right or left arm. Before target presentation, auditory cues instructed which arm should be used for the task. Three types of movement-related activities were recorded in PMv : the first reflected visual, but not motor, space (V neurons) ; the second reflected motor, but not visual, space (M neurons) ; and the third was intermediate. V tended to be related to bilateral and M neurons to contralateral arm movements. The findings seem to support the above view on the role of PMv in visually guided arm movements.