Inactivation of the Dorsal Premotor Area Disrupts Internally Generated, But Not Visually Guided, Sequential Movements

Abstract

The dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) has long been thought to be a critical node in the cortical networks responsible for visually guided reaching. Here we show that PMd neurons are active during both visually guided and internally generated sequential movements. In addition, we found that local inactivation of the PMd has a marked effect only on the performance of sequential movements that were internally generated. These observations suggest that, although the PMd may participate in the generation of visually guided sequences, it is more important for the generation of internally guided sequences.