Dissociation between hand motion and population vectors from neural activity in motor cortex

The population vector hypothesis was introduced almost twenty years ago to illustrate that a population vector constructed from neural activity in primary motor cortex (MI) of non-human primates could predict the direction of hand movement during reaching. Alternative explanations for this populatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2001-09, Vol.413 (6852), p.161-165
Main Authors: Scott, Stephen H, Gribble, Paul L, Graham, Kirsten M, Cabel, D. William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anisotropy
Biological and medical sciences
Biomechanical Phenomena
Brain
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hand - physiology
Hands
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Macaca mulatta
Male
Models, Neurological
Monkeys & apes
Motor ability
Motor control and motor pathways. Reflexes. Control centers of vegetative functions. Vestibular system and equilibration
Motor Cortex - physiology
Motor Skills - physiology
multidisciplinary
Neurology
Neurons
Neurons - physiology
Science
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The population vector hypothesis was introduced almost twenty years ago to illustrate that a population vector constructed from neural activity in primary motor cortex (MI) of non-human primates could predict the direction of hand movement during reaching. Alternative explanations for this population signal have been suggested but could not be tested experimentally owing to movement complexity in the standard reaching model. We re-examined this issue by recording the activity of neurons in contralateral MI of monkeys while they made reaching movements with their right arms oriented in the horizontal plane-where the mechanics of limb motion are measurable and anisotropic. Here we found systematic biases between the population vector and the direction of hand movement. These errors were attributed to a non-uniform distribution of preferred directions of neurons and the non-uniformity covaried with peak joint power at the shoulder and elbow. These observations contradict the population vector hypothesis and show that non-human primates are capable of generating reaching movements to spatial targets even though population vectors based on MI activity do not point in the direction of hand motion.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/35093102