Primates adopt various strategies to interact with the environment. Yet, no study has examined the effects of behavioural strategies with regard to how movement inhibition is implemented at the neuronal level. We modified a classical approach to study movement control (stop-task) by adding an extra signal – termed the Ignore signal – capable of influencing the inhibition of movements only within a specific strategy. We simultaneously recorded multisite neuronal activity from the dorsal premotor (PMd) cortex of macaque monkeys during the task and applied a state-space approach. As a result, we found that movement generation is characterized by neuronal dynamics that evolve between subspaces. When the movement is halted, this evolution is arrested and inverted. Conversely, when the Ignore signal is presented, inversion of the evolution is observed briefly and only when a specific behavioural strategy is adopted. Moreover, neuronal signatures during the inhibitory process were predictive of how PMd processes inhibitory signals, allowing the classification of the resulting behavioural strategy. Our data further corroborate the PMd as a critical node in movement inhibition.

灵长类动物采用各种策略与环境互动。然而，没有研究检查行为策略对如何在神经元水平上实施运动抑制的影响。我们修改了研究运动控制（停止任务）的经典方法，添加了一个额外的信号 - 称为忽略信号 - 能够仅在特定策略内影响运动的抑制。我们在任务期间同时记录了猕猴背侧前运动 (PMd) 皮层的多部位神经元活动，并应用了状态空间方法。结果，我们发现运动生成的特征在于子空间之间演变的神经元动力学。当运动停止时，这种演变就会停止并倒转。相反，当出现 Ignore 信号时，只有在采用特定的行为策略时，才会短暂地观察到进化的反转。此外，抑制过程中的神经元特征可以预测 PMd 如何处理抑制信号，从而对产生的行为策略进行分类。我们的数据进一步证实了 PMd 作为运动抑制的关键节点。