| Abstract: | Evoked firing activity (EFA) in neurons of the human thalamic reticular nucleus (Rt) was recorded by microelectrodes using extracellular recording techniques in the course of stereotaxic surgery for dyskinesia. Activity was induced by functionally significant verbal and sensory stimuli together with performance of goal-directed behavioral actions (BA). Use of the principal component method and construction of peristimulus covariance matrices are suggested in view of the presumably convergent nature of EFA in Rt neurons, taking the form of superposing independent components of response and variability in these in the course of BA testing and performance for the purpose of analyzing EFA and interneuronal correlations. The multivariate pattern of Rt EFA time courses during the action of functionally significant stimuli was revealed; this reflects different stages in performance of BA. The dynamics of components of response are revealed and occurrence of rapidly developing interneuronal correlations in functionally significant stages of goal-directed BA are described. Findings point to the efficacy of the suggested approach applied to analysis of EFA neurons.Institute of Chemical Physics, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 811–818, November–December, 1990. |
