[Excitatory neuronal responses developing shortly after application of an electrical stimulus to the cerebral cortex].

The responses of neurones in the sensorimotor area of the intact cortex and in the neuronally isolated cortical slab to direct electrical stimulation was investigated in unanaesthetized rabbits. By a number of parameters the excitatory response of the units may be divided into several individual reactions which set in at different time periods and are apparently of different nature. It is assumed that the short-latency responses are to a considerable degree due to excitatory input to the units along intracortical pathways. Excitatory responses with a 20 to 40 ms latency, appearing at a period of the so-called inhibitory pause, and postinhibitory excitatory responses reveal a considerable dependence on the input from the subcortical formations, activated in a secondary way by the stimulus applied to the cortex.