Features of the coordinated activity functionally identified neurons in the hypothalamus in different motivational-emotional states

Abstract

Coordinated activity of hypothalamic neurons associated with motivational and reinforcing systems were studied in functional states arising from hunger, satiation following food deprivation, "victim" cries, and electrical stimulation of the emotionally positive (lateral hypothalamus, lateral preoptic region) and negative (dorsomedial tegmentum) reinforcing structures of the hypothalamus. Activity characteristics were reflected in the magnitude, sign, and dynamics of correlations, and depended on the ratio of motivational and emotional components of behavior. The reciprocal nature of the statistical significance of the activity of these neurons in conditions in which motivation and emotion dominated indicates that the differentiated motivational and emotional hypothalamic influences in cortical processes during learning are mediated via the coordinated activity of neurons in the motivational and reinforcing systems of the hypothalamus.