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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Physiological, Morphological and Neurochemical Characterization of Neurons Modulated by Movement
Published on: April 21, 2011
Neuronal correlates of goal-based motor selection in the prefrontal cortex
Kenji Matsumoto1, Wataru Suzuki, Keiji Tanaka
1Cognitive Brain Mapping Laboratory, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. matsumot@postman.riken.go.jp
Abstract:
Choosing an action that leads to a desired goal requires an understanding of the linkages between actions and their outcomes. We investigated neural mechanisms of such goal-based action selection. We trained monkeys on a task in which the relation between visual cues, action types, and reward conditions changed regularly, such that the monkeys selected their actions based on anticipated reward conditions. A significant number of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex were activated, after cue presentation and before motor execution, only by particular action-reward combinations. This prefrontal activity is likely to underlie goal-based action selection.
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