Methods of motor performance evaluation: application to a primate model for basal ganglia pathology.

In studies on the motor impairments induced in monkeys by performing lesions of various kinds on the central nervous system, it is necessary to be able to exactly quantify the motor deficits. The battery of tests described in the present paper (simple and choice reaction-time procedures, goal-directed pointing movement, digital manipulation task) provide a systematic means of analysing the motor performances involving movement control. Central nervous dysfunction can be induced by either reversibly or permanently excluding specific structures. An example of the motor impairments observed after lesion of the substantia nigra is given which provides an animal model for hemi-parkinsonism.