Neuronal activity during spontaneous walking--II. Correlation with stepping

Abstract

1. During walking in the locust most active brain descending interneurons (DINs) and some from the suboesophageal ganglion (SOG) fire tonically but most SOG DINs show temporally patterned activity. 2. In over half the neurons the temporally patterned firing does not appear to correlate with the stepping cycle. 3. In the remainder, the coincidences with stepping appear to be with particular parts of the step cycle, that is with movement function, rather than with the movement itself. 4. These coincidences or "motor fields" range from the step functions of one leg to a concurrent set of step functions of 3-4 legs, to more than one such set of functions.