ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the orienting response (OR) from the standpoint of extracellular recording using the same procedures that were used in human subjects. The first part of this chapter is entitled “In search of habituatable neurons.” Why was this study initiated? This research was started when it was decided to research what was meant by habituation, the processing of the OR, and precisely the factors that trigger the OR. The simplest stimulation was selected-a light flash and an auditory click, as the main purpose of this study was to discover neurons that show a regular decrement in their response. The first hypothesis concerning the organization of the OR was based on our assumption that the plastic neurons are located mainly at the neocortical level. Moving among structures in the rabbit brain, the visual cortex, auditory cortex, and
motor cortex have been examined. The lateral and medial geniculate bodies have also been studied and in these areas, hours have been spent stimulating single neurons, keeping these neurons on the tip of a tungsten microelectrode, but neurons with stable responses were mainly found.
