Caudate neuronal activity in cats during head turning: selectivity for sensory-triggered movements.

Units were recorded extracellularly from the caudate nucleus (CN) of cats during movement. The majority of CN units fired during sensory-triggered movements rather than movements in general. However, sensory stimulation was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for CN unit responding; stimuli caused unit responses only when movements were evoked. Additionally, only movements triggered by particular stimuli were associated with unit responding. These unit responses were not sensory because neural activity changes were associated with movement onset rather than stimulus presentation. These data are in accord with recent suggestions of a sensory-based motor function for the basal ganglia.