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Cognitive neurophysiology of the motor cortex
A P Georgopoulos1, M Taira, A Lukashin
1American Legion, Minneapolis, MN.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|April 2, 1993
Summary
Researchers visualized cognitive processes by linking human psychology studies with monkey motor cortex neuronal activity. This reveals how brain cell populations represent complex cognitive functions and mirror artificial neural networks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- Understanding the brain mechanisms of cognitive function is a central challenge in neuroscience.
- Cognitive processing involves the coordinated activity of large populations of neurons.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between psychological processes and neuronal population activity.
- To explore how the brain implements cognitive functions.
Main Methods:
- Combined psychological studies in human subjects with neurophysiological recordings of neuronal populations in the motor cortex of behaving monkeys.
- Analyzed time-varying activity of neuronal populations.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that time-varying psychological processes can be visualized through the dynamic activity of neuronal populations.
- Found functional interactions between motor cortex cells resemble those in artificial neural networks performing similar computations.
Conclusions:
- Neuronal population activity in the motor cortex reflects dynamic cognitive processes.
- The brain's computational principles for cognition may share similarities with artificial neural network architectures.