Distribution of slow cortical potentials preceding self-paced hand and hindlimb movements in the premotor and motor areas of monkeys

Abstract

Surface negative-depth positive, slowly increasing potentials prior to self-paced hand and hindlimb movements were recorded in the dorsal aspect of the motor and premotor cortices with chronically implanted electrodes. It was shown that the potentials were recorded in the contralateral forelimb motor area prior to hand movements but were hardly seen in the hindlimb motor area. On hindlimb movements, the contralateral hindlimb motor area showed the premovement potentials, whereas the forelimb motor area revealed little or no premovement potentials. The contralateral premotor cortex was shown to induce the premovement potentials in its wider areas and participate in both of hand and hindlimb movements in a similar fashion, with predominances in its dorsolateral portion for hand movements and in its dorsomedial portion for hindlimb movements respectively. In the hemisphere ipsilateral to the moving hand, the relatively large premovement slow potentials emerged frequently also in the premotor cortex, whereas only the small potential was obtained from the forelimb motor area. These results suggest that the premotor cortex (area 6) participates in the more general and associative organization of motor function than the motor cortex (area 4) which represents the specialized role in the motor performance.