In primates, the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is implicated in planning and imagining motor tasks. Here, by recording from this region in a tetraplegic volunteer, the authors showed that the PPC has a similar role in humans. Imagining a movement regulated the activity of a single cell, and the patient could control cell firing by imagining different motor tasks. Cell activity was recorded and used to move a cursor on a screen. PPC neuronal activity coded both the goal and the trajectory of the intended movement when the patient was asked to imagine moving the cursor towards a target. The PPC may therefore be a promising target for neuroprosthetic development.
References
Aflalo, T. et al. Decoding motor imagery from the posterior parietal cortex of a tetraplegic human. Science 348, 906–910 (2015)
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Carr, F. Coding motor plans. Nat Rev Neurosci 16, 376 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3988
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3988