Structural and Functional Bases for Frontal Lobe Participation in the Organization of Complex Behavior in Cats

Abstract

The differences in the cytoarchitectonic organization and the thalamocortical projections to the anterior and posterior cortical fields in cats provide the basis for judgements about their unequal roles in entire behavior acts. Extracellular recordings of anterior frontal neuronal activity have revealed the predominance of the nonspecific type of afferent activation of gyrus proreus neurons; complex integrative properties of gigantopyramidal neurones [posterior frontal regions] have been observed. Participation of the posterior frontal fields in afferent synthesis and in programming motor activity has been shown in behavioral studies. The phlogenetically younger anterior frontal fields are considered to be yet nonspecialized structures; posterior gigantopyramidal fields in cats are considered as the highest apparatus of programming complex motor activity in an experimental situation.