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INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY

Using Neuronal Latency to Determine Sensory–Motor Processing Pathways in Reaction Time Tasks

¹Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Division of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; and ²McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Submitted 14 May 2004; accepted in final form 15 November 2004

We describe a new technique that uses the timing of neuronal and behavioral responses to explore the contributions of individual neurons to specific behaviors. The approach uses both the mean neuronal latency and the trial-by-trial covariance between neuronal latency and behavioral response. Reliable measurements of these values were obtained from single-unit recordings made from anterior inferotemporal (AIT) cortex and the frontal eye fields (FEF) in monkeys while they performed a choice reaction time task. These neurophysiological data show that the responses of AIT neurons and some FEF neurons have little covariance with behavioral response, consistent with a largely "sensory" response. The responses of another group of FEF neurons with longer mean latency covary tightly with behavioral response, consistent with a largely "motor" response. A very small fraction of FEF neurons had responses consistent with an intermediate position in the sensory-motor pathway. These results suggest that this technique is a valuable tool for exploring the functional organization of neuronal circuits that underlie specific behaviors.

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