QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, May 9, 2007, 27(19):5105-5114; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3570-06.2007

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in J. Neurosci. Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hatsopoulos, N. G. Articles by Amit, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hatsopoulos, N. G. Articles by Amit, Y.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Encoding of Movement Fragments in the Motor Cortex

Nicholas G. Hatsopoulos,¹ Qingqing Xu,² and Yali Amit²

¹Departments of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and ²Statistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Correspondence should be addressed to Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637. Email: nicho{at}uchicago.edu

Previous studies have suggested that complex movements can be elicited by electrical stimulation of the motor cortex. Most recording studies in the motor cortex, however, have investigated the encoding of time-independent features of movement such as direction, velocity, position, or force. Here, we show that single motor cortical neurons encode temporally evolving movement trajectories and not simply instantaneous movement parameters. We explicitly characterize the preferred trajectories of individual neurons using a simple exponential encoding model and demonstrate that temporally extended trajectories not only capture the tuning of motor cortical neurons more accurately, but can be used to decode the instantaneous movement direction with less error. These findings suggest that single motor cortical neurons encode whole movement fragments, which are temporally extensive and can be quite complex.

Key words: motor cortex; preferred direction; encoding; decoding; trajectory; regression

---

Received Aug. 17, 2006; revised March 29, 2007; accepted April 2, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637. Email: nicho{at}uchicago.edu

Related articles in J. Neurosci.:

Temporal Encoding of Movement in Motor Cortical Neurons

J. Andrew Pruszynski, Angela M. Coderre, Timothy P. Lillicrap, and Isaac Kurtzer
J. Neurosci. 2007 27: 10076-10077. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. H. Mulliken, S. Musallam, and R. A. Andersen Inaugural Article: Forward estimation of movement state in posterior parietal cortex PNAS, June 17, 2008; 105(24): 8170 - 8177. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. H. Scott Inconvenient Truths about neural processing in primary motor cortex J. Physiol., March 1, 2008; 586(5): 1217 - 1224. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J.-W. Sohn and D. Lee Order-Dependent Modulation of Directional Signals in the Supplementary and Presupplementary Motor Areas J. Neurosci., December 12, 2007; 27(50): 13655 - 13666. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. A. Pruszynski, A. M. Coderre, T. P. Lillicrap, and I. Kurtzer Temporal Encoding of Movement in Motor Cortical Neurons J. Neurosci., September 19, 2007; 27(38): 10076 - 10077. [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help