A trigeminal sensorimotor circuit for pecking, grasping and feeding in the pigeon ( Columba livia)

A combination of autoradiographic and histochemical tracing procedures was used to identify telencephalic structures linking the sensory and motor components of the trigeminal system in the pigeon. In addition to the nucleus basalis, these structures include trigeminal projection areas in the frontal and caudal neostriatum both of which project upon the intermediate archistriatum. Archistriatal output reaches premotor areas in the lateral (parvocellular) reticular formation via a descending pathway, the occipitomesencephalic tract. The trigeminal sensorimotor circuit defined in these experiments has been linked, by neurobehavioral studies, to the control of pecking, grasping and feeding in the pigeon.