Human thalamic and pallidal neuronal responses to visual stimuli in a threshold recognition task

Abstract

Multiunit activity was recorded from 80 different subcortical sites in 9 parkinsonian patients bearing gold electrodes for diagnosis and theraphy. The patients participated in a visual recognition task in which the stimuli (digits) were presented on a LED matrix at threshold. The exposure times were so chosen that in about half the trials the patient failed to recognized the digit correctly. Peristimulus time histograms for each neuronal population as well as profiles of reactions for the groups of neuronal populations localized in the N. ventro-laterals thalami and the globus pallidus, respectively, were analysed statistically, contrasting the cases of correct recognition with those of non-recognition. Different types of response, possibly related to different stages of task performance, were separated: an early type with onset latencies ranging from 80 to 160 msec, two middle types with onset latencies ranging from 200 to 300 msec, and a type characterized by slow shifts in the discharge rate beginning 400–600 msec post stimulus. Most of the significant differences in the discharge rate between qualities of recognition were found in the middle-type responses and in the slow shift, shorter latencies and larger amplitudes accompanying correct recognition.