High-frequency spectral changes in Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex for potential neuoroprosthetics

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) has been associated with goal encoding in primates. Thus far, the majority of research involving DLPFC, including all electrophysiology studies, has been performed in non-human primates. In this paper, we explore the possibility of utilizing the cortical activity in DLPFC in humans for use in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). Electrocorticographic signals were recorded from seven patients with intractable epilepsy who had electrode coverage over DLPFC. These subjects performed a visuomotor target-based task to assess DLPFC's involvement in planning, execution, and accomplishment of the simple motor task. These findings demonstrate that there is a distinct high-frequency spectral component in DLPFC associated with accomplishment of the task. It is envisioned that these signals could potentially provide a novel verification of task accomplishment for a BCI.