Analysis of the dynamics of interneuronal functional connections during conditioned reflex activity

The dynamics of interneuronal functional connections were studied in the prefrontal cortex of dogs performing a task consisting of unforeseen remodeling of movement conditioned reflexes. An original method was used to find and classify the temporal patterns of linked spikes coming from several simultaneously recorded neurons. This procedure showed that in 33 pairs of neurons (87% of the total number of pairs showing interneuronal functional connections), parts of the conditioned reflex program were associated with behaviorally significant changes in the functional relationship between the neurons. In different behavioral situations, linked activation of a given pair of cells was restricted to different stages of the performance of the conditioned reflex task. In 17 pairs of neurons, the periods of "switching of interneuronal functional connections," i.e., the intervals in which linked spikes were absent during all stages of task performance, were seen only in a particular behavioral context different from the situation in which these same cells generated linked discharges. The specific characteristics of different methods of analyzing the dynamics of interneuronal functional connections in conditions of a dynamic behavioral context and multifactorial determination of conditioned reflex activity are discussed.