Hippocampal EEG and behaviour in dog. I. Hippocampal EEG correlates of gross motor behaviour

Abstract

It was shown that rewarding spectral shifts (i.e. increase in amplitude or peak frequency of the hippocampal EEG) causes a solitary dog to show increased motor behaviour. Rewarded spectral shifts concurred with a variety of behavioural transitions.

It was found that statistically significant modulations occur in the spectral properties of the hippocampal EEG correlated with: (1) the transition from walking to standing; (2) the transition from standing while eating to walking away from the food dish; (3) the increase in speed of a walking dog, caused by rewarding the animal; and with (4) each head movement in a learned series of head movements.

Thus behavioural transitions to a more active state are accompanied by an increase of amplitude, frequency and rhythmicity in the theta band of the hippocampal EEG; behavioural transitions to a less active state show the inverse relationship with the hippocampal EEG. A close relationship between modulations of the dog's hippocampal EEG activity and elementary motor acts is stressed. The hypothesis is put forward that the spectral properties of the hippocampal EEG reflect the degree to which a number of motor and sensory structures in the limbic midbrain and brain stem are active.