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Learning and Memory Mechanisms in the Basal Ganglia:
Plasticity in Basal Ganglia Loops

Complex biological systems such as human language and the genetic code are characterized by explicit markers at the beginning and end of functional sequences. We have recorded the macaque prefrontal cortex while the monkey executes a sequence of cued saccades. The surprising finding is that some neurons show a phasic peak of spike activity marking the endpoint of the series of saccades. Variation in many of the properties of the stimulus indicated that the peak was not sensory driven and did not depend on any kind of rhythmicity of stimulus presentation. We conclude that neurons carry an explicit signal that marks the completed performance of learned behaviors.

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