[Background electrical activity of the claustrum]

The dynamics of the spontaneous electrical activity of the rostral, dorsal, ventral and caudal claustrum was studied chronically in 12 dogs with biologically significant distinctions in the physiological state of the animals: extinction of orientative reflexes, replacement of the feeding conditions for the acid and defensive situation and elaboration of internal inhibition. The obtained data correlated with the hypothesis on an intermediate position of the claustrum between the cortex and subcortex and permit expressing a suggestion on availability in this nucleus of special representations for different physiological activities, in particular--orientative, feeding, rejecting and defensive. The ventral claustrum seems to take a maximal part in the orientative behaviour, the rostral and caudal claustrum--in the feeding behaviour, and the dorsal and ventral parts of the nucleus--in the rejecting and the defensive behaviour.