MESIAL TEMPORAL NEURONS IN THE MACAQUE MONKEY WITH RESPONSES SELECTIVE FOR ASPECTS OF SOCIAL-STIMULI

Primates possess a sophisticated cognitive ability to interpret and re spond to the social actions of conspecifics. Neurons in the temporal l obes of macaque monkeys which are selective for the appearance and mot ions of conspecifics have been described previously, the results repor ted here indicate that pathways which integrate such information conve rge in mesial temporal regions. Single neuron data from an alert macaq ue viewing moving pictures of other monkeys engaged in a variety of be haviors are presented. Neurons in medial nuclei of the amygdala and ad jacent mesial temporal cortex are sensitive to identity, movement, and high-level aspects of depicted scenes.