Cortical local field potential encodes movement intentions in the posterior parietal cortex

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Motor Control
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Local field potential (LFP) signals, summation of dendritic potentials, are gaining research interest.
• The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is implicated in motor planning and execution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the temporal structure of LFP signals in the parietal reach region (PRR).
• To determine if LFP signals can differentiate between planned reach and saccade movements.
• To assess the potential of LFP signals for brain-machine interfaces (BMIs).

Main Methods:

• Recorded LFP signals from the PRR in macaque monkeys during motor tasks.
• Analyzed LFP signal structure and its relationship with planned and executed movements.
• Compared LFP decoding performance for reaches versus saccades.
• Examined LFP coherency with simultaneously recorded spiking activity.

Main Results:

• LFP signals in the PRR exhibit temporal structures that vary with motor behavior type.
• LFP signals from PRR showed superior decoding performance for reaches compared to saccades.
• Higher coherency between LFP and spiking activity was observed during reach planning versus saccade planning.
• Single-trial LFP information could predict behavioral state and movement direction.

Conclusions:

• Parietal cortex LFP signals contain rich information about motor planning.
• LFP signals demonstrate potential for use in brain-machine interfaces for movement decoding.