Behavioral Acts Elicited by Stimulation of Single, Identifiable Brain Cells

Abstract

By stimulation of and recording from all of the nerve trunks and from over 50 of the large nerve cell bodies in the isolated brain of the nudibranch Tritonia gilberti a map of the axonal paths and synaptic connections has been constructed. The nervous correlates of sensory and motor activities can be monitored in single cells of the intact animal. Similarly, discrete responses in local muscles of the body wall and complex behavioral sequences such as turning and swimming are triggered by stimulation of single identifiable units.