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

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 wit...

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Main Authors: 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, Jaimie M. Henderson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-05-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59039-z
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author 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
Jaimie M. Henderson
author_facet 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
Jaimie M. Henderson
author_sort Nishal P. Shah
collection DOAJ
description 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.
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publisher Nature Portfolio
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series Nature Communications
spelling doaj-art-e4e2ee719cf04affad3635e114e71e382025-08-20T03:22:11ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-05-0116111510.1038/s41467-025-59039-zPseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortexNishal P. Shah0Donald Avansino1Foram Kamdar2Claire Nicolas3Anastasia Kapitonava4Carlos Vargas-Irwin5Leigh R. Hochberg6Chethan Pandarinath7Krishna V. Shenoy8Francis R. Willett9Jaimie M. Henderson10Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford UniversityDepartment of Neurosurgery, Stanford UniversityDepartment of Neurosurgery, Stanford UniversityCenter for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolCenter for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolVA RR&D Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Rehabilitation R&D Service, Providence VA Medical CenterCenter for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of TechnologyHoward Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford UniversityDepartment of Neurosurgery, Stanford UniversityDepartment of Neurosurgery, Stanford UniversityAbstract 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.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59039-z
spellingShingle 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
Jaimie M. Henderson
Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex
Nature Communications
title Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex
title_full Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex
title_fullStr Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex
title_full_unstemmed Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex
title_short Pseudo-linear summation explains neural geometry of multi-finger movements in human premotor cortex
title_sort pseudo linear summation explains neural geometry of multi finger movements in human premotor cortex
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59039-z
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