Uniform and Non-uniform Perturbations in Brain-Machine Interface Task Elicit Similar Neural Strategies.

ABSTRACT: The neural mechanisms that take place during learning and adaptation can be directly probed with brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). We developed a BMI controlled paradigm that enabled us to enforce learning by introducing perturbations which changed the relationship between neural activity and the BMI's output. We introduced a uniform perturbation to the system, through a visuomotor rotation (VMR), and a non-uniform perturbation, through a decorrelation task. The controller in the VMR was essentially unchanged, but produced an output rotated at 30° from the neurally specified output. The controller in the decorrelation trials decoupled the activity of neurons that were highly correlated in the BMI task by selectively forcing the preferred directions of these cell pairs to be orthogonal. We r

SUBMITTER: Armenta Salas M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4994425 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature