A. Bastian et al., PRIOR INFORMATION PRESHAPES THE POPULATION REPRESENTATION OF MOVEMENTDIRECTION IN MOTOR CORTEX, NeuroReport, 9(2), 1998, pp. 315-319
SINGLE neuron activity was recorded in monkey motor cortex during the
execution of pointing movements in six directions. The amount of prior
information was manipulated by varying the range of precued direction
s. A distribution of neural population activation was constructed in t
he space of movement directions. This population representation of mov
ement direction was preshaped by the precue. Peak location and width r
eflected the precued range of movement directions. From this preshaped
form, the population representation evolved continuously in time and
gradually in parameter space toward a more sharply peaked distribution
centered on the parameter value specified by the response signal. A t
heoretical model of motor programming generated a similar temporal evo
lution of an activation field representing movement direction.