An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigation
Summary: Cortical circuits contain diverse sensory, motor, and cognitive signals, and they form densely recurrent networks. This creates challenges for identifying causal relationships between neural populations and behavior. We develop a calcium-imaging-based brain-machine interface (BMI) to study...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | Cell Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725006333 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849720090965049344 |
|---|---|
| author | Ethan Sorrell Daniel E. Wilson Michael E. Rule Helen Yang Fulvio Forni Christopher D. Harvey Timothy O’Leary |
| author_facet | Ethan Sorrell Daniel E. Wilson Michael E. Rule Helen Yang Fulvio Forni Christopher D. Harvey Timothy O’Leary |
| author_sort | Ethan Sorrell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Cortical circuits contain diverse sensory, motor, and cognitive signals, and they form densely recurrent networks. This creates challenges for identifying causal relationships between neural populations and behavior. We develop a calcium-imaging-based brain-machine interface (BMI) to study the role of posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in controlling navigation in virtual reality. By training a decoder to estimate navigational heading and velocity from PPC activity during virtual navigation, we find that mice can immediately navigate toward goal locations when control is switched to the BMI. No learning or adaptation is observed during BMI, indicating that naturally occurring PPC activity patterns are sufficient to drive navigational trajectories in real time. During successful BMI trials, decoded trajectories decouple from the mouse’s physical movements, suggesting that PPC activity relates to intended trajectories. Our work demonstrates a role for PPC in navigation and offers a BMI approach for investigating causal links between neural activity and behavior. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-95f6c971dd834b1c92e643bc419a047c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2211-1247 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cell Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-95f6c971dd834b1c92e643bc419a047c2025-08-20T03:12:01ZengElsevierCell Reports2211-12472025-07-0144711586210.1016/j.celrep.2025.115862An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigationEthan Sorrell0Daniel E. Wilson1Michael E. Rule2Helen Yang3Fulvio Forni4Christopher D. Harvey5Timothy O’Leary6Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USADepartment of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USADepartment of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UKDepartment of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Corresponding authorDepartment of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Corresponding authorSummary: Cortical circuits contain diverse sensory, motor, and cognitive signals, and they form densely recurrent networks. This creates challenges for identifying causal relationships between neural populations and behavior. We develop a calcium-imaging-based brain-machine interface (BMI) to study the role of posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in controlling navigation in virtual reality. By training a decoder to estimate navigational heading and velocity from PPC activity during virtual navigation, we find that mice can immediately navigate toward goal locations when control is switched to the BMI. No learning or adaptation is observed during BMI, indicating that naturally occurring PPC activity patterns are sufficient to drive navigational trajectories in real time. During successful BMI trials, decoded trajectories decouple from the mouse’s physical movements, suggesting that PPC activity relates to intended trajectories. Our work demonstrates a role for PPC in navigation and offers a BMI approach for investigating causal links between neural activity and behavior.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725006333CP: Neuroscience |
| spellingShingle | Ethan Sorrell Daniel E. Wilson Michael E. Rule Helen Yang Fulvio Forni Christopher D. Harvey Timothy O’Leary An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigation Cell Reports CP: Neuroscience |
| title | An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigation |
| title_full | An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigation |
| title_fullStr | An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigation |
| title_full_unstemmed | An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigation |
| title_short | An optical brain-machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal-directed navigation |
| title_sort | optical brain machine interface reveals a causal role of posterior parietal cortex in goal directed navigation |
| topic | CP: Neuroscience |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725006333 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ethansorrell anopticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT danielewilson anopticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT michaelerule anopticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT helenyang anopticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT fulvioforni anopticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT christopherdharvey anopticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT timothyoleary anopticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT ethansorrell opticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT danielewilson opticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT michaelerule opticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT helenyang opticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT fulvioforni opticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT christopherdharvey opticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation AT timothyoleary opticalbrainmachineinterfacerevealsacausalroleofposteriorparietalcortexingoaldirectednavigation |