Credit: Cedars-Sinai
LOS ANGELES (Feb. 3, 2021) For the first time in humans, investigators at Cedars-Sinai have identified the neurons responsible for canceling planned behaviors or actions a highly adaptive skill that when lost, can lead to unwanted movements.
Known as stop signal neurons, these neurons are critical in powering someone to stop or abort an action they have already put in process. We have all had the experience of sitting at a traffic stop and starting to press the gas pedal but then realizing that the light is still red and quickly pressing the brake again, said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study published online in the peer-reviewed journal