Useful signals from motor cortex
- 1Departments of Neurobiology, Bioengineering, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Neural Engineering Program, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA2Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Corresponding author A. B. Schwartz: Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, E1440 BST, 200 Lothrope Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2536, USA. Email: abs21{at}pitt.edu
Abstract
Historically, the motor cortical function has been explained as a funnel to muscle activation. This invokes the idea that motor cortical neurons, or ‘upper motoneurons’, directly cause muscle contraction just like spinal motoneurons. Thus, the motor cortex and muscle activity are inextricably entwined like a puppet master and his marionette. Recently, this concept has been challenged by current experimentation showing that many behavioural aspects of action are represented in motor cortical activity. Although this activity may still be related to muscle activation, the relation between the two is likely to be indirect and complex, whereas the relation between cortical activity and kinematic parameters is simple and robust. These findings show how to extract useful signals that help explain the underlying process that generates behaviour and to harness these signals for potentially therapeutic applications.
Footnotes
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(Received 15 December 2006; accepted after revision 15 January 2007; first published online 18 January 2007)
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This report was presented at The Journal of Physiology Symposium on Physiology of brain–computer interfaces, Atlanta, GA, USA, 13 October 2006. It was commissioned by the Editorial Board and reflects the views of the author.
- 2007 The Author. Journal compilation © 2007 The Physiological Society
