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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 584/3/801    most recent jphysiol.2007.140236v1 Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Taha, S. A. Articles by Fields, H. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Taha, S. A. Articles by Fields, H. L. Related Collections Neuroscience

¹ Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, 5858 Horton Street, Suite 200, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA
² Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Forchheimer Building, Room 111, Bronx, NY 10461, USA

The nucleus accumbens is involved in the modulation of motivated behaviour by reward-associated sensory information. However, little is known about the specific nature of the nucleus accumbens' contribution to generating movement. We investigated motor encoding by nucleus accumbens neurons in rats performing a delayed response task that allowed us to dissociate the effects of sensory and motor events on firing. In a subset of neurons, firing in the delay period preceding movement was highly selective; this selectivity was tightly correlated with the direction of the subsequent movement, but not with the sensory properties of the instructive cue. Direction selectivity in this population of neurons developed over the course of the delay period, with the strongest selectivity apparent just prior to movement onset. Selectivity was also apparent in nucleus accumbens neurons during movement, such that firing showed a tight correlation with movement direction, but not the instructive cue presented nor the spatial destination of the movement. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a subpopulation of nucleus accumbens neurons contributes to the selection and execution of specific motivated behaviours.

(Received 6 July 2007; accepted after revision 28 August 2007; first published online 30 August 2007)
Corresponding author S. A. Taha: Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, 5858 Horton Street, Suite 200, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA. Email: staha{at}phy.ucsf.edu