Populations of behavior-reactive neurons in the monkey neostriatum

Comparative analysis of the unit activity of the monkey putamen during multistage behavior showed that neurons of the putamen are active during all the behavioral actions. It was established that the number of the behavior-related neurons changes considerably less than number of neurons which reorganize their activity at the time. Reorganization of unit activity in the putamen is considered as reflecting the efferent code which controls behavior, and the degree of reorganization--as a measure of change of this code in relation to organization of ongoing behavioral action. It has been discovered that the change in the number of the active neurons at various steps of behavior and reorganization of their activity occurs independently. It may be related to two main afferent systems of striatum: ascending from rhe brain stem, and corticofugal which brings differentiated information to the neuronal net of striatum from various parts of the cortex.