This task included expected and unexpected nonrewarding events (expected target, unexpected nontarget, and omission of target) in a design that closely parallels studies of dopamine function and reward processing in the alert monkey.
We used contrast-agent enhanced functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the alert monkey to map the cortical regions involved in the extraction of 3D shape from the monocular static cues, texture and shading.
A similar outcome was observed when the experiment was repeated in an alert monkey performing a motor task, allowing the additional observation that the effect of F5 stimulation varied with the type of grasp being performed (Prabhu et al. 2009).
Srihasam, K., Sullivan, K., Savage, T. & Livingstone, M.S. Noninvasive functional MRI in alert monkeys.
Here we describe an initial study of neural responses in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of the cerebral cortex while alert monkeys discriminated the direction of motion in a visual display.
Iwamura, Y., Tanaka, M., Hikosaka, O. & Sakamoto, M. Postcentral neurons of alert monkeys activated by the contact of the hand with objects other than the monkey's own body.
Kapadia, M. K., Ito, M., Gilbert, C. D. & Westheimer, G. Improvements in visual sensitivity by changes in local context: Parallel studies in human observers and in V1 of alert monkeys.
For example, minimizing fixational eye movements in alert monkeys reduces spike count variability in the visual cortex (Gur et al., 1997).
Indeed, the spontaneous firing rates of rat motor thalamic neurons during cortical activation in the present study tally with those of motor thalamic neurons in alert monkeys at rest (Anderson and Turner 1991; Vitek et al. 1994; Pessiglione et al. 2005).
And these results are not limited to anesthetized preparations: similar results have been obtained in awake monkeys, where (as one could have imagined, and similarly to what is done here for whiskers) it is essential to know eye position on a moment by moment basis: Gur, Beylin, and Snodderly, "Response variability of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) of alert monkeys" (J Neurosci, 1997).
Scott TR, Yaxley S, Sienkiewicz ZJ, Rolls ET. Gustatory responses in the frontal opercular cortex of the alert cynomolgus monkey.
