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Updated: Apr 24, 2026
Assessing Primary Motor Cortex Excitability and Excitability Modulation by Pairing Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with Electromyography
Published on: October 7, 2025
Joint cross-correlation analysis reveals complex, time-dependent functional relationship between cortical neurons and
Katie Z Zhuang1, Mikhail A Lebedev2, Miguel A L Nicolelis3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina;
Researchers found dynamic correlations between brain activity and muscle signals in monkeys. These findings are crucial for developing advanced brain-machine interfaces that generate realistic muscle force outputs.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Cortical activity and limb muscle electromyographic (EMG) activity correlation is key for understanding corticospinal pathways.
- Advancements in brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) necessitate mimicking muscle force using neural signals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the dynamic relationship between cortical neuronal activity and arm muscle EMGs.
- To investigate the temporal and task-dependent nature of cortico-EMG correlations.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multielectrode arrays implanted in motor, premotor, and somatosensory cortical areas of three monkeys.
- Employed joint cross-correlation (JCC) analysis to assess trial-by-trial cortico-EMG correlations over time intervals.
- Compared JCC results with corrected spike-triggered averages.
Main Results:
- Identified transient correlations between EMGs of multiple muscles and neural activity across cortical areas.
- JCC analysis revealed dynamic changes in cortico-EMG correlations, with peaks sharpening around movement and broadening during delays.
- Observed directionally selective correlation patterns during arm-reaching tasks.
Conclusions:
- Cortico-EMG relationships are highly dynamic, task-dependent, and distributed.
- These findings should inform the design of future BMIs aiming to generate EMG-like signals for prosthetic control or neurorehabilitation.
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