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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on October 1, 2008
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn170
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Population Vector Analysis of Primate Mediodorsal Thalamic Activity during Oculomotor Delayed-Response Performance

Yumiko Watanabe1,2, Kazuyoshi Takeda1 and Shintaro Funahashi1,3

1 Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 600-8501 Japan, 2 Neuroscience Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, 305-8568 Japan, 3 Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

Address correspondence to Dr Shintaro Funahashi, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. Email: sfunahashi{at}mbox.kudpc.kyoto-u.ac.jp.

To understand functional roles of the thalamic mediodorsal nucleus (MD) in sensory-to-motor information transformation during spatial working memory performance and compare with those of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), we calculated population vectors using a population of MD activities recorded during 2 tasks. In the oculomotor delayed-response (ODR) task, monkeys needed to make a memory-guided saccade to the cue location, whereas in the rotatory oculomotor delayed-response (R-ODR) task, they needed to make a memory-guided saccade 90o clockwise from the cue direction. The directions of population vectors calculated from populations of cue- and response-period activities were similar to the cue and saccade target directions, respectively, which confirmed that population vectors represent information regarding the directions of the visual cue and the saccade target. We then calculated population vectors of delay-period activity using a sliding 250-ms time window. In the ODR task, population vectors were directed toward the cue direction throughout the delay. However, in the R-ODR task, they gradually rotated from the cue direction to the saccade target direction. Based on a comparison with the results obtained from DLPFC neurons, the rotation of population vectors started earlier in the MD than in the DLPFC, suggesting that the motor information regarding forthcoming saccade is provided from the MD.

Key Words: information processing • population vector • prefrontal cortex • rhesus monkey • thalamus • working memory


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