Structure of neuronal activity of the caudate nucleus of monkeys during decision-making and the realization of the motor program in different variants of a delayed spatial choice task.

In this paper the results of investigations of the participation of caudate nucleus neurons in the decision-making process and the process of organization of the program of a future motor response during the performance by Macaca mulatta monkeys of a delayed spatial choice tasks of varying degrees of complexity are presented. The presence in the caudate nucleus of spatially selective neurons, which are subdivided into two groups, was established: the position of conditional signals is reflected in the activity of one of the groups, and the direction of the future motor response is reflected in the activity of the other. The decision-making process is reflected in the impulse activity of neurons of the head of the caudate nucleus in two of its aspects: as the formation or choice of a specific motor program (spatially selective activity) and as a transitional factor from the instructive to the executive phase of the behavior.