Event-Related Potentials accompanying Voluntary Movement in Rhesus Monkeys

Abstract

This chapter discusses event-related potentials accompanying voluntary movement in rhesus monkeys. The preparation to make a movement is accompanied by a series of scalp potentials. The potentials that precede the movement are bilaterally asymmetrical and are sensitive to such parameters as the force of the movement and the handedness of the subject. The diagnostic value of these movement-related potentials has also been demonstrated with patient populations characterized by such motor disorders as Parkinsonism. However, certain of these results—such as the presence of large pre-movement slow potentials (SPs) in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the responding limb—are difficult to integrate with the relevant anatomical and physiological data. Whereas SP activity has been shown to be lateralized to a much greater degree in human intracerebral recordings, by its very nature, the use of this technique is limited to subjects with pathological conditions. The problems of working with human subjects may be circumvented through the development of an animal model of the relation among movement-related potentials and normal and abnormal motor activities. Indeed, potentials with similar morphologies have been found in monkeys. © 1980, Academic Press Inc.