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Updated: Aug 9, 2025
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Measuring and Manipulating Functionally Specific Neural Pathways in the Human Motor System with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Published on: February 23, 2020
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Parallel movement planning is achieved via an optimal preparatory state in motor cortex
Nicolas Meirhaeghe1, Alexa Riehle2, Thomas Brochier1
1Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT), UMR 7289, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, 13005 Marseille, France.
Cell Reports
|February 22, 2023
Summary
The motor cortex plans multiple movements by adjusting neural activity to an intermediate state, balancing competing movement demands. This dynamical process explains how the brain handles complex motor planning.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Dynamical Systems Theory
Background:
- The motor cortex is crucial for movement planning.
- A theory suggests the motor cortex functions as a dynamical system during movement preparation.
- This theory's predictions for complex planning remain untested.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate preparatory neural activity in the motor cortex during simultaneous planning of two movements.
- To test predictions of the dynamical systems theory in a more complex behavioral context.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of neural activity in the motor cortex of non-human primates.
- Examining preparatory activity patterns while animals planned two movements concurrently.
Main Results:
- Preparatory activity adjusted to an optimal subspace, reaching an intermediate state.
- This intermediate state reflected a trade-off between the two planned movements.
- The dynamical theory quantitatively explained the relationship between the intermediate state and behavioral variability.
Conclusions:
- The motor cortex employs a simple mechanism for parallel planning of multiple movements.
- Motor planning is a controlled dynamical process, adaptable to complex scenarios.
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