Role for Cingulate Motor Area Cells in Voluntary Movement Selection Based on Reward

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 282; no. 5392; pp. 1335 - 1338
• Main Authors: Shima, Keisetsu, Tanji, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 13.11.1998; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Anatomical correlates of behavior; Animal rights movements; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Cellular biology; Cerebral Cortex - cytology; Cerebral Cortex - drug effects; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Forelimbs; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; GABA Agonists - pharmacology; Gyrus Cinguli - cytology; Gyrus Cinguli - drug effects; Gyrus Cinguli - physiology; Histograms; Kinetics; Laboratory monkeys; Localization (Brain function); Localization of functions; Macaca; Monkeys as laboratory animals; Motor ability; Motor Activity - drug effects; Motor cortex; Motor Cortex - cytology; Motor Cortex - physiology; Motor skills; Muscimol - pharmacology; Neurology; Neurons; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance; Reward; Cerebral cortex; Positive reinforcement; Decision making; Central nervous system; Discharge pattern; Electrophysiology; Macaca fascicularis; Cognition; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Acquisition process; Cingulate cortex; Animal; Body movement; Information processing; Primates; Simioidea; Motricity; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5392.1335

Most natural actions are chosen voluntarily from many possible choices. An action is often chosen based on the reward that it is expected to produce. What kind of cellular activity in which area of the cerebral cortex is involved in selecting an action according to the expected reward value? Results of an analysis in monkeys of cellular activity during the performance of reward-based motor selection and the effects of chemical inactivation are presented. We suggest that cells in the rostral cingulate motor area, one of the higher order motor areas in the cortex, play a part in processing the reward information for motor selection.