Fifty Years of CPGs: Two Neuroethological Papers that Shaped the Course of Neuroscience

摘要: Half a century ago, two independent papers that described unexpected results of experiments on locomotion in insects and crayfish appeared almost simultaneously. Together these demonstrated an animal’s central nervous system (CNS) was organized to produce behaviorally important motor output without the need for constant sensory feedback. These contradicted established line thought based interpretations reflexes ablation experiments, animals CNS contained neural circuits could complex, periodic, multisegmental patterns activity. stimulated flowering research pattern-generating mechanisms displaced reflex-based thinking everywhere except medical physiology texts. Here we review their influence 1960s, 1970s, today. We follow development ideas about organization control expression patterns, roles input circuits, integration continuous signals into periodic system. also recent work limb coordination provides detailed cellular explanations observations speculations those original papers.