Operant conditioning of pontine gigantocellular units.

In order to investigate the behavioral role of pontine gigantocellular field (FTG) units, we have operantly reinforced discharge in these cells in unrestrained cats using lateral hypothalamic stimulation as the reinforcing stimulus. Cats readily learned to increase discharge rate in reinforced FTG cells relative to simultaneously recorded, non-reinforced control cells. Increased FTG discharge was associated with elevated levels of motor activity and often with stereotyped movements. Our results are compatible with the hypothesis that FTG unit discharge is related to specific movements.