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Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex

Author

Listed:
  • Nishal P. Shah

    (Stanford University
    Rice University
    Rice University
    Rice University)

  • Donald Avansino

    (Stanford University
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University)

  • Foram Kamdar

    (Stanford University)

  • Claire Nicolas

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Anastasia Kapitonava

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Carlos Vargas-Irwin

    (Providence VA Medical Center
    Brown University
    Brown University)

  • Leigh R. Hochberg

    (Harvard Medical School
    Providence VA Medical Center
    Brown University
    Brown University)

  • Chethan Pandarinath

    (Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology
    Emory University)

  • Krishna V. Shenoy

    (Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University
    Stanford University
    Stanford University
    Stanford University)

  • Francis R. Willett

    (Stanford University
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University)

  • Jaimie M. Henderson

    (Stanford University
    Stanford University
    Stanford University)

Abstract

How does the motor cortex combine simple movements (such as single finger flexion/extension) into complex movements (such as hand gestures, or playing the piano)? To address this question, motor cortical activity was recorded using intracortical multi-electrode arrays in two male people with tetraplegia as they attempted single, pairwise and higher-order finger movements. Neural activity for simultaneous movements was largely aligned with linear summation of corresponding single finger movement activities, with two violations. First, the neural activity exhibited normalization, preventing a large magnitude with an increasing number of moving fingers. Second, the neural tuning direction of weakly represented fingers changed significantly as a result of the movement of more strongly represented fingers. These deviations from linearity resulted in non-linear methods outperforming linear methods for neural decoding. Simultaneous finger movements are thus represented by the combination of individual finger movements by pseudo-linear summation.

Suggested Citation

  • Nishal P. Shah & Donald Avansino & Foram Kamdar & Claire Nicolas & Anastasia Kapitonava & Carlos Vargas-Irwin & Leigh R. Hochberg & Chethan Pandarinath & Krishna V. Shenoy & Francis R. Willett & Jaimi, 2025. "Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59039-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59039-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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