The decision to make a movement: Neurophysiological insights

It is unclear how the brain enables a subject to discriminate between two or more sensory stimuli and to respond appropriately to them. This process must include the ability to detect and identify the stimuli, and to select and initiate an appropriate motor response. With the advent of improved computer technology, this behavior can now be studied in the laboratory, not only by monitoring the input to (stimulus) and output from the brain (response), but also by measuring the associated electrical activity of the brain in order to gain an understanding of how this task is accomplished. In this paper we discuss our work in this area and its relevance to understanding the neural organization of the decision to make a movement in response to a sensory stimulus.