As skill on a sequence of movements is acquired through practice, each movement in the sequence becomes seamlessly associated with another. To study the neural basis of acquired skills, we trained two monkeys (Cebus apella) to perform two sequential reaching tasks. In one task, sequential movements were instructed by visual cues, whereas in the other task, movements were generated from memory after extended practice. Then, we examined neural activity in the dorsal premotor area(PMd) and the effects of its local inactivation during performance of each task. Comparable numbers of neurons in the PMd were active during the two tasks. However, inactivation of the PMd had a marked effect only on the performance of sequential movements that were guided by memory. These results emphasize the importance of the PMd in the internal generation of sequential movements, perhaps through maintaining arbitrary motor-motor associations.
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