Studies of Cerebral Function in Learning

Lashley, K. S.

doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1924.02200030002001

Cited by 111 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Some years later Bianchi (4), observing six monkeys with frontal lesions, reported increased activity in four, no change in one, and decreased activity in the sixth. Similar inconsistencies have been observed by Lashley (14), Jacobsen (8,9), Fulton et al (7), and others. Most of these observations were incidental to other investigations and, more important, were handicapped by lack of objective recording devices for activity changes.…”

supporting

confidence: 79%

The cerebral cortex and locomotor activity in rats.

Zubek¹,

Lorenzo²

1952

Canadian Journal of Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologi

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A group of rats was tested 25 days in an activity cage. On the basis of preoperative activity scores they were divided into a control and 5 experimental groups. Controls were sham-operated and experimentals received bilateral ablation of either anterior, posterior, or medical parts of the cortex. Removal of frontal poles tended to produce considerable increase in activity; level of activity was not affected by other operations. Postoperative emotional changes reported by others were not found. 19 references.

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supporting

confidence: 79%

The cerebral cortex and locomotor activity in rats.

Zubek¹,

Lorenzo²

1952

Canadian Journal of Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologi

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“…The implications of this idea for current and future research 22 are discussed. 23 2 24Since its discovery 150 years ago, the role of motor cortex has been a topic of 25 controversy and confusion [1,2,3,4]. Here we report our eorts to establish 26 a teleology for cortical motor control.…”

mentioning

confidence: 86%

A robust role for motor cortex

Lopes

2016

Preprint

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The role of motor cortex in non-primate mammals remains unclear. More than a 10 century of stimulation, anatomical and electrophysiological studies has implicated neural activity in 11 this region with all kinds of movement. However, following the removal of motor cortex, rats retain 12 most of their adaptive behaviours, including previously learned skilled movements. Here we revisit 13 these two conflicting views of motor cortex and present a new behaviour assay, challenging 14 animals to respond to unexpected situations while navigating a dynamic obstacle course.15 Surprisingly, rats with motor cortical lesions show clear impairments facing an unexpected collapse 16 of the obstacles, while showing no impairment with repeated trials in many motor and cognitive 17 metrics of performance. We propose a new role for motor cortex: extending the robustness of 18 sub-cortical movement systems, specifically to unexpected situations demanding rapid motor 19 responses adapted to environmental context. The implications of this idea for current and future 20 research are discussed. 21 22 45 the other. He connected the orderly march of these spasms to the existence of localized lesions in 46 the post-mortem brain of his patients and hypothesized that the origin of these fits was uncontrolled 47 excitation caused by local changes in cortical grey matter (Jackson, 1870). In that same year, Fritsch 48 and Hitzig published their famous study demonstrating that it is possible to elicit movements by 49 direct stimulation of the cortex in dogs (Fritsch and Hitzig, 1870). Furthermore, stimulation of 50 different parts of the cortex produced movement in different parts of the body (Fritsch and Hitzig, 51 1870). It appeared that the causal mechanism for epileptic convulsions predicted by Hughlings 52 Jackson had been found, and with it a possible explanation for how the intact brain might control 53 movement. The cerebral cortex was already considered at the time to be the seat of reasoning 54 and sensation, so if activity over this so-called motor cortex was able to exert direct control over the 55 musculature of the body, then it might, in the normal brain, be the area that connects volition to 56 muscles (Fritsch and Hitzig, 1870). The Goltz-Ferrier debates 58 David Ferrier, a Scottish neurologist deeply impressed by the ideas of Hughlings Jackson and by the 59 positive results of Fritsch and Hitzig's experiments, proceeded to reproduce and expand on their 60 observations with comprehensive stimulation studies showing how activity in the motor cortex 61 was sufficient to produce a large variety of movements across a wide range of mammalian species 62 (Ferrier, 1873). Meanwhile, other researchers across Europe such as Goltz and Christiani were 63 facing a dilemma: in many of the so-called "lower mammals" massive lesions of the cerebral cortex 64 failed to demonstrate any visible long-term impairments in the motor behaviour of animals (James, 65 1885; Goltz, 1888). These two lines of inquiry first clashed at the seventh Inte...

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“…During the course of the past century, several investigators had found that a behavioral technique can be used in animals (Ogden and Franz, 1917; Lashley, 1924; Tower, 1940; Chambers et al, 1972) or humans (Franz et al, 1915; Bach-y-Rita and Bach-y-Rita, 1990; Bach-y-Rita, 1992) to improve motor performance substantially after neurological damage (Ogden and Franz, 1917; Lashley, 1924; Tower, 1940; Chambers et al, 1972). However, in the case of the animal research none of these observations was embedded in a formal theoretical context that allowed the formulation of predictions, nor was the generality of the mechanisms clearly recognized.…”

Section: Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

The functional significance of cortical reorganization and the parallel development of CI therapy

Taub

Uswatte

Mark

2014

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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For the nineteenth and the better part of the twentieth centuries two correlative beliefs were strongly held by almost all neuroscientists and practitioners in the field of neurorehabilitation. The first was that after maturity the adult CNS was hardwired and fixed, and second that in the chronic phase after CNS injury no substantial recovery of function could take place no matter what intervention was employed. However, in the last part of the twentieth century evidence began to accumulate that neither belief was correct. First, in the 1960s and 1970s, in research with primates given a surgical abolition of somatic sensation from a single forelimb, which rendered the extremity useless, it was found that behavioral techniques could convert the limb into an extremity that could be used extensively. Beginning in the late 1980s, the techniques employed with deafferented monkeys were translated into a rehabilitation treatment, termed Constraint Induced Movement therapy or CI therapy, for substantially improving the motor deficit in humans of the upper and lower extremities in the chronic phase after stroke. CI therapy has been applied successfully to other types of damage to the CNS such as traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury, and it has also been used to improve function in focal hand dystonia and for aphasia after stroke. As this work was proceeding, it was being shown during the 1980s and 1990s that sustained modulation of afferent input could alter the structure of the CNS and that this topographic reorganization could have relevance to the function of the individual. The alteration in these once fundamental beliefs has given rise to important recent developments in neuroscience and neurorehabilitation and holds promise for further increasing our understanding of CNS function and extending the boundaries of what is possible in neurorehabilitation.

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Studies of Cerebral Function in Learning

Cited by 111 publications

References 34 publications

The cerebral cortex and locomotor activity in rats.

The cerebral cortex and locomotor activity in rats.

A robust role for motor cortex

The functional significance of cortical reorganization and the parallel development of CI therapy

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