Electrical activity of the entorhinal cortex during conditioned behavior

¹ Department of Anatomy and Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California

A 4–6-cps wave form was observed in the entorhinal cortex of 8 out of 10 cats studied with the implanted electrode technique. When the animals were trained to approach a concealed food reward, the slow waves always accompanied the act of walking to the goal, and the rhythm stabilized in the range of 5–6 cps. When the habit was subjected to extinction, the rhythm gradually dropped out, to return promptly with retraining. Stimulation of the entorhinal area had no effect on behavior as long as seizures were avoided. A similar 6–6-cps rhythm was observed in the hippocampus during the early stages of training in two animals. It is suggested that the entorhinal slow waves are a correlate of an alert state of readiness to act.