Firing Patterns of a Supplementary Motor Area Neuron

The figure shows the firing patterns of a single neuron in the supplementary motor area of a monkey. The animal performed three sequences of movements. The neuron responded only during a pulling response that was to be followed by a pushing response. Black hash marks indicate action potentials during each trial, and blue histograms indicate the total number of action potentials summed across all trials. (From Shima, K., and Tanji, J. Journal of Neurophysiology, 2000, 84, 2148–2160. Reprinted with permission of the American Physiological Society.)