At the University of Freiburg, an interdisciplinary research team has uncovered crucial hints about how the sensorimotor brain functions. The latest research on neural activity in this region of the brain may aid with future neuroprosthetic development and application. These are designed to assist in making up for neural dysfunctions and have an interface with the neurological system. Prof. Dr. Ilka Diester, a neurobiologist at the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Biology, states that “our discoveries will minimize the training duration of patients with prostheses while contributing to the enhancement of neuroprosthetic techniques.” In the journal Nature Communications, the findings have recently been released.
Understanding the brain under more natural conditions
The study collaboration also included the working groups of neuroscientist Prof. Dr. Daniel Durstewitz from the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim and computer scientist Prof. Dr. Thomas Brox from the University of Freiburg. In the sensorimotor cortex of rats allowed to move freely, the research team discovered evidence of preserved neuronal activity structures. Conclusions about the relative contributions of the premotor, motor, and sensory areas are possible thanks to the electrical recordings made over the entire bilateral sensorimotor cortex. The scientists discovered a distinct gradient from anterior to posterior regions, indicating a contralateral bias, or movement of the opposite half of the body.
The majority of previous research on the sensorimotor cortex was conducted using restricted, stereotyped motions in a controlled environment. The current study examines the transferability of knowledge about neural control of movements from constrained behavior to a freely moving condition, a requirement for understanding the brain under more natural conditions and for the further development of neuroprosthetic devices. It uses recordings of freely moving subjects using 3D tracking.
Categories of behavior across individuals
The group employed a method of neural data alignment and dimensionality reduction. Thus, the geometric structures in the visual representation resulted from the reduction of the high-dimensional neural patterns to a low-dimensional representation by way of their resemblance to other patterns. Then, like holding a magnet to a box of nails, these geometric patterns were naturally aligned with one another. The ones after that line up in a particular direction. The researchers identified behavioral categories across recording sessions and even individuals using such aligned geometric frameworks, and they discovered equivalent evidence of conserved brain activity structures.
