Neuroscience core scientist Amy Orsborn published a new paper in the high-impact publication Nature Neuroscience in which she, as lead author, reports that, “Neural populations are dynamic but constrained,” as the title reads.
“Our brains evolved to help us rapidly learn new things. But anyone who has put in hours of practice to perfect their tennis serve, only to reach a plateau, can attest that our brains aren’t infinitely flexible,” the paper begins. “New work shows that patterns of neural activity over time — the temporal dynamics of neural populations — cannot change rapidly, suggesting that neural activity dynamics may both reflect and constrain how the brain performs computations.”
The findings, Dr Orsborn says, has the potential to impact how brain-computer interfaces are developed that could help provide people the use of artificial limbs.
In the study, Orsborn and her colleagues used micro- electrocorticography recordings in two male monkeys to map how their eye movements related to their arm movements. The upshot is the movements mapped in the brain across different regions, which advances our understanding of how our brain works when we do everyday tasks like reaching toward things we’re not looking directly at.
“These insights…reveal opportunities to leverage these signals to enhance future brain-computer interfaces,” she writes.
Dr Orsborn is one of three University of Washington faculty members who recently received fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Sloan Fellowships honor early-career researchers whose achievements mark them among the next generation of scientific leaders. Each fellow will receive $75,000 to apply toward research endeavors.