Acuña C, Gonzalez F, Dominguez R
Exp Brain Res. 1983;52(3):411-22. doi: 10.1007/BF00238034.
Previous observations made in our laboratory in a waking behaving Cebus Apella monkey revealed that neurons of the Pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus discharged preferentially in relation to intentional movements of the limbs and eyes. We give here a description of further observations made in two waking, behaving Cebus Apella monkeys trained to perform two tasks: in the first to make saccadic eye movements to eccentrically placed visual targets; in the second, to make projection movements of the arm and hand to touch targets within arm's reach. The electrical activity of thalamic neurons was recorded extracellularly and records were made simultaneously of the horizontal eye movements and of tasks events. Four-hundred-sixty-five neurons were studied: of these, the activity of 272 could be correlated with behavioral events, while the remaining 193 could not be correlated or classified in this manner. The cells identified were classed in five groups, as follows: (1) neurons active during attentive fixation of a target, but which did not respond to our ordinary visual test stimuli; (2) neurons active during projection movements of the arm or manipulation with the hand, but which were not active during casual movements of the hand or arm, and which were not activated by passive somatic sensory stimuli; (3) those active before, during or after evoked saccadic movements of the eyes, but which were not activated by our testing visual stimuli; (4) neurons active during tracking movements of the eyes, or during projection movements of the arm, alone, but which discharged maximally when these two events occurred simultaneously; and, (5) neurons active during both saccadic movements of the eyes and during projection movements of the arm. We regularly observed, for each of these classes of neurons of the Pulvinar, that optimal correlated activity depended upon the intentional nature of the associated behavioral events, and the animal's attention to them. We conclude that there exists at the level of the Pulvinar a neural correlate of certain evolving behavioral events, and particularly of intentional activity such as the projection of the arm or the direction of gaze towards targets of interest in the immediately surrounding visual environment. The regions of the Pulvinar containing neurons with these properties are reciprocally related to association areas of the Neocortex known to contain neurons with similar properties. It can then be concluded from both anatomical and electrophysiological observations that the Pulvinar is an essential part of the system controlling these complex behavioral events.
我们实验室之前在一只清醒且行为正常的僧帽猴身上进行的观察表明，丘脑枕核的神经元在与四肢和眼睛的意向性运动相关时优先放电。在此，我们描述在两只清醒且行为正常的僧帽猴身上进行的进一步观察，这两只猴子经过训练执行两项任务：第一项任务是向偏心放置的视觉目标进行眼球快速扫视运动；第二项任务是将手臂和手进行伸展运动以触碰手臂可及范围内的目标。丘脑神经元的电活动通过细胞外记录，同时记录水平眼球运动和任务事件。共研究了465个神经元：其中，272个神经元的活动可与行为事件相关联，而其余193个神经元无法以这种方式关联或分类。所识别的细胞分为五组，如下：(1) 在注意力集中注视目标时活跃，但对我们常规的视觉测试刺激无反应的神经元；(2) 在手臂伸展运动或用手操作时活跃，但在手或手臂随意运动时不活跃，且不受被动躯体感觉刺激激活的神经元；(3) 在诱发的眼球快速扫视运动之前、期间或之后活跃，但不受我们测试视觉刺激激活的神经元；(4) 仅在眼球跟踪运动或手臂伸展运动期间活跃，但在这两个事件同时发生时放电最大的神经元；以及(5) 在眼球快速扫视运动和手臂伸展运动期间均活跃的神经元。对于丘脑枕核的每一类神经元，我们经常观察到，最佳相关活动取决于相关行为事件的意向性本质以及动物对它们的关注。我们得出结论，在丘脑枕核水平存在某些正在演变的行为事件的神经关联，特别是意向性活动，如手臂向周围视觉环境中感兴趣的目标伸展或注视方向。丘脑枕核中含有具有这些特性的神经元的区域与已知含有具有类似特性的神经元的新皮质联合区域相互关联。从解剖学和电生理学观察可以得出结论，丘脑枕核是控制这些复杂行为事件的系统的重要组成部分。
