Premotor negativity associated with saccadic eye movement and finger movement: a comparative study.

The topography and time course of the premotor negativity (PMN) associated with horizontal saccadic eye movement and with thumb movement has been compared in a group of normal subjects. It was found that the time of onset, slope and distribution of the PMN was essentially the same for both types of movement. This finding suggests that the PMN may reflect primarily a non-movement-specific increase in attention or arousal processes common to both types of movement rather than activity in specific cortical areas concerned with the programming and execution of the movements.