Goal-directed whisking increases phase-locking between vibrissa movement and electrical activity in primary sensory cortex in rat.

ABSTRACT: We tested the hypothesis that behavioral context modulates phase-locking between rhythmic motor activity and concomitant electrical activity induced in primary sensory (S1) cortex. We used exploratory whisking by rat as a model system and recorded two measures: (i) the mystacial electromyogram ( nabla EMG) as a surrogate of vibrissa position, and (ii) the field potential ( nabla LFP) in S1 cortex as an indicator of electrical activity. The degree to which the nabla EMG and nabla LFP were phase-locked was compared for three categories of rhythmic whisking: (i) searching for an object with the vibrissae for a food reward, (ii) whisking in air for the goal of returning to the home cage, and (iii) whisking with no reward. We observed that the magnitude of phase-locking was nearly tripled for t

SUBMITTER: Ganguly K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC514478 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature