Romo R, Salinas E
Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510 México, D.F. México.
Annu Rev Neurosci. 2001;24:107-37. doi: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.107.
A complex sequence of neural events unfolds between sensory receptor activation and motor activity. To understand the underlying decision-making mechanisms linking somatic sensation and action, we ask what components of the neural activity evoked by a stimulus are directly related to psychophysical performance, and how are they related. We find that single-neuron responses in primary and secondary somatosensory cortices account for the observed performance of monkeys in vibrotactile discrimination tasks, and that neuronal and behavioral responses covary in single trials. This sensory activity, which provides input to memory and decision-making mechanisms, is modulated by attention and behavioral context, and microstimulation experiments indicate that it may trigger normal perceptual experiences. Responses recorded in motor areas seem to reflect the output of decision-making operations, which suggests that the ability to make decisions occurs at the sensory-motor interface.
在感觉受体激活和运动活动之间，一系列复杂的神经事件相继展开。为了理解将躯体感觉与行动联系起来的潜在决策机制，我们探究由刺激诱发的神经活动的哪些成分与心理物理学表现直接相关，以及它们是如何相关的。我们发现，初级和次级躯体感觉皮层中的单神经元反应可以解释猴子在振动触觉辨别任务中的表现，并且在单次试验中神经元反应和行为反应是共同变化的。这种为记忆和决策机制提供输入的感觉活动，会受到注意力和行为背景的调节，微刺激实验表明它可能触发正常的感知体验。在运动区域记录到的反应似乎反映了决策操作的输出，这表明决策能力出现在感觉运动界面。
