Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 12 March 1999:
Vol. 283. no. 5408, pp. 1617 - 1619
DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5408.1617
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

News of the Week

NEUROBIOLOGY:
Memory for Order Found in the Motor Cortex

Ingrid Wickelgren

On page 1752, a team of neuroscientists reports that neurons in the motor cortex appear to do far more than simply orchestrate movements: They can help recognize and remember the sequence of events in time, at least as a prelude to movement. The researchers trained monkeys on a task that requires memorizing the order of events in time and found neurons in the motor cortex that showed an abrupt increase in firing only when a spot arrived in a certain place in the sequence, no matter what its location. If the findings hold up, it may mean that the information needed to perform complex cognitive tasks is distributed very widely in the brain. In that event, prospects for recovering from brain injuries may someday be brighter. If healthy areas share some functions of the damaged brain areas, clinicians may be able to boost those functions and stimulate more complete recovery.

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)