Lopes, Gonçalo;
Nogueira, Joana;
Dimitriadis, George;
Menendez, Jorge Aurelio;
Paton, Joseph J;
Kampff, Adam R;
(2023)
A robust role for motor cortex.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
, 17
, Article 971980. 10.3389/fnins.2023.971980.
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Abstract
The role of motor cortex in non-primate mammals remains unclear. More than a century of stimulation, anatomical and electrophysiological studies has implicated neural activity in this region with all kinds of movement. However, following the removal of motor cortex, rats retain most of their adaptive behaviors, including previously learned skilled movements. Here we revisit these two conflicting views of motor cortex and present a new behavior assay, challenging animals to respond to unexpected situations while navigating a dynamic obstacle course. Surprisingly, rats with motor cortical lesions show clear impairments facing an unexpected collapse of the obstacles, while showing no impairment with repeated trials in many motor and cognitive metrics of performance. We propose a new role for motor cortex: extending the robustness of sub-cortical movement systems, specifically to unexpected situations demanding rapid motor responses adapted to environmental context. The implications of this idea for current and future research are discussed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A robust role for motor cortex |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fnins.2023.971980 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.971980 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2023 Lopes, Nogueira, Dimitriadis, Menendez, Paton and Kampff. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | Teleology, motor cortex, behavior, rodents, electrocorticography (ECoG), brain lesion |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10187577 |
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