| Research Abstract |
There exist multiple motor areas in the cerebral cortex of primates. Why do we have multiple motor areas and what is their usage in voluntary motor control? As far as we observe activity changes in individual areas in relation to relatively simple motor areas, no apparent differences of activity is found. in this research, a series of experiments were performed to ask the fundamenral question in relation to control of multiple movements in temporal sequence. Monkeys were trained to perform three different arm movements in six different sequence. By chronic single-cell recording techniques, cellular activity was recorded from multiple motor areas (primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, presupplementary motor area, and premotor cortex). It was found that the primary motor cortex is primarily concerned with the control of individual movements. On the other hand, the supplementary motor are is more concerned with sequencing of multiple movements. Further, neuronal activity in the presupplementary motor area were often uniquely related to acquisition of new motor sequence. These findings provide fundamental knowledge about functional organization of multiple motor areas.
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