Human subthalamic nucleus in movement error detection and its evaluation during visuomotor adaptation

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Motor Control
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Motor control relies on evaluating movement errors to guide future actions.
• Previous research linked sensorimotor cortex beta power increases to motor error evaluation via Bayesian inference.
• The role of the basal ganglia, particularly the subthalamic nucleus (STN), in this process remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether neural processes evaluating motor errors involve the basal ganglia.
• To examine the role of beta oscillations and their coupling between the sensorimotor cortex and STN in motor error processing.

Main Methods:

• Recorded electroencephalography (EEG) over the sensorimotor cortex and local field potential (LFP) in the STN of Parkinson's disease patients.
• Patients performed a joystick-controlled cursor task with visual targets.
• Analyzed beta band activity and cortico-STN coupling in relation to movement errors and adaptation.

Main Results:

• Increased beta activity and coupling were observed in both STN LFP and sensorimotor cortical EEG post-movement.
• This coupling was influenced by error magnitude and contextual saliency.
• Information flow was predominantly from cortex to STN, but STN to cortex drive emerged during adaptation, correlating with performance.

Conclusions:

• Oscillatory beta activity dynamically couples the sensorimotor cortex and basal ganglia after movements.
• STN-to-cortex beta drive signifies task-relevant errors, potentially crucial for modifying subsequent motor responses.
• These findings implicate basal ganglia-cortical beta oscillations in adaptive motor control and error correction.