Neural population dynamics in human motor cortex during movements in people with ALS

The prevailing view of motor cortex holds that motor cortical neural activity represents muscle or movement parameters. However, recent studies in non-human primates have shown that neural activity does not simply represent muscle or movement parameters; instead, its temporal structure is well-descr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chethan Pandarinath, Vikash Gilja, Christine H Blabe, Paul Nuyujukian, Anish A Sarma, Brittany L Sorice, Emad N Eskandar, Leigh R Hochberg, Jaimie M Henderson, Krishna V Shenoy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 2015-06-01
Series:eLife
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Online Access:https://elifesciences.org/articles/07436
Description
Summary:The prevailing view of motor cortex holds that motor cortical neural activity represents muscle or movement parameters. However, recent studies in non-human primates have shown that neural activity does not simply represent muscle or movement parameters; instead, its temporal structure is well-described by a dynamical system where activity during movement evolves lawfully from an initial pre-movement state. In this study, we analyze neuronal ensemble activity in motor cortex in two clinical trial participants diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). We find that activity in human motor cortex has similar dynamical structure to that of non-human primates, indicating that human motor cortex contains a similar underlying dynamical system for movement generation. Clinical trial registration: NCT00912041.
ISSN:2050-084X