The goal of this project is to understand how neural representations of simple movements are combined to learn and perform complex, motor skills. Learning to perform many complex, sequential movements including play a musical instrument, engaging in a sport, speaking, or writing can be viewed as the process by which already learned movement segments or """"""""primitives"""""""" are bound together in novel ways. Multi-channel recordings will be made using a novel 100 electrode array implanted in the primary (MI) and supplementary motor areas (SMA) of monkey cortex while the animals learns to perform sequential movements of the hand and arm. Theoretical work suggests that this binding process may manifest itself as temporal interactions among ensembles of neurons. Temporal interaction patterns such as correlated discharge among MI and SMA neurons will be examined when movement segments are performed together as a functional unit and compared with patterns occurring when the same segments are generated independently or in isolation. A number of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease can be characterized as a breakdown in the generation of smooth movement sequences. Therefore, this research could provide insights into the etiology and treatment of such disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research & Training (K01)
Project #
5K01MH001671-03
Application #
6330216
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-5 (01))
Program Officer
Goldschmidts, Walter L
Project Start
1998-12-01
Project End
2001-11-30
Budget Start
2000-12-01
Budget End
2001-11-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$107,601
Indirect Cost
Name
Brown University
Department
Neurosciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
001785542
City
Providence
State
RI
Country
United States
Zip Code
02912
Serruya, Mijail; Hatsopoulos, Nicholas; Fellows, Matthew et al. (2003) Robustness of neuroprosthetic decoding algorithms. Biol Cybern 88:219-28
Hatsopoulos, N G; Harrison, M T; Donoghue, J P (2001) Representations based on neuronal interactions in motor cortex. Prog Brain Res 130:233-44