Interneuronal cortical connections and intertrial responses in appetitive instrumental learning

Abstract

The organization of interneuronal cortical connections in intertrial periods was studied in 4 cats trained to perform the delayed appetitive instrumental response to a visual conditioned stimulus (CS). Crosscorrelational analysis revealed changes in intra- and intercortical neuronal networks of the visual and motor cortical projection areas. Depending on the form of behavior in the intertrial period, i.e., the presence or absence of the acquired instrumental response, the functional connections of either informational (time delays of less than 30 ms) or motivational (time delays in the range of 60–100 ms) character dominated between the neurons of the motor and visual cortical areas.