Latent Factors and Dynamics in Motor Cortex and Their Application to Brain-Machine Interfaces.
J Neurosci
; 38(44): 9390-9401, 2018 10 31.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30381431
ABSTRACT
In the 1960s, Evarts first recorded the activity of single neurons in motor cortex of behaving monkeys (Evarts, 1968). In the 50 years since, great effort has been devoted to understanding how single neuron activity relates to movement. Yet these single neurons exist within a vast network, the nature of which has been largely inaccessible. With advances in recording technologies, algorithms, and computational power, the ability to study these networks is increasing exponentially. Recent experimental results suggest that the dynamical properties of these networks are critical to movement planning and execution. Here we discuss this dynamical systems perspective and how it is reshaping our understanding of the motor cortices. Following an overview of key studies in motor cortex, we discuss techniques to uncover the "latent factors" underlying observed neural population activity. Finally, we discuss efforts to use these factors to improve the performance of brain-machine interfaces, promising to make these findings broadly relevant to neuroengineering as well as systems neuroscience.
Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Brain-Computer Interfaces
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Motor Cortex
/
Movement
/
Neurons
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Neurosci
Year:
2018
Type:
Article