Behavior-related neuron reactions and the dynamics of neuronal activity.

The spike activity of neurons with associative functions, studied as a neural correlate of behavior, constitutes an efferent spike flow which operates continuously throughout each of an animal's actions. However, research practice is dominated by methods based on the "stimulus-response" principle. Analysis from other points of view, directed to investigating the dynamics of neuron activity in monkeys during performance of a multistep behavioral program showed that differences in neuron activity of neurons during performance of different behavioral actions are not so much in terms of the numbers of cells responding or the activation of neurons specialized for the action concerned as in terms of changes in the composition of active neurons, with the formation of different combinations. As each combination of active neurons determines the distribution of efferent signals characteristic of this combination, these data suggest the existence of an addressing mechanism encoding efferent signals.