Movement-independent representation of reward-predicting cues in the medial part of the primate premotor cortex

Neural activity across the dorsal neocortex of rodents is dominated by orofacial and limb movements, irrespective of whether the movements are task-relevant or task-irrelevant. To examine the extent to which movements and a primitive cognitive signal, i.e., reward expectancy, modulate the activity of multiple cortical areas in primates, we conducted unprecedented wide-field one-photon calcium imaging of frontoparietal and auditory cortices in common marmosets while they performed a classical conditioning task with two auditory cues associated with different reward probabilities. Licking, eye movement, and hand movement strongly modulated the neuronal activity after cue presentation in the motor and somatosensory cortices in accordance with the somatotopy. By contrast, the posterior parietal cortex and primary auditory cortex did not show much influence from licking. Licking increased the activity in the caudal part of the dorsal premotor cortex, but decreased the activity in the central and lateral parts of the rostral part of the dorsal premotor cortex (PMdr). Reward expectancy that was separable from both spontaneous and goal-directed movements was mainly represented in the medial part of PMdr. Our results suggest that the influence of movement on primate cortical activity varies across areas and movement types, and that the premotor cortex processes motor and cognitive information in different ways within further subdivided areas.