Dissociating motor cortex from the motor.

During closed-loop control of a brain-computer interface, neurons in the primary motor cortex can be intensely active even though the subject may be making no detectable movement or muscle contraction. How can neural activity in the primary motor cortex become dissociated from the movements and muscles of the native limb that it normally controls? Here we examine circumstances in which motor cortex activity is known to dissociate from movement--including mental imagery, visuo-motor dissociation and instructed delay. Many such motor cortex neurons may be related to muscle activity only indirectly. Furthermore, the integration of thousands of synaptic inputs by individual α-motoneurons means that under certain circumstances even cortico-motoneuronal cells, which make monosynaptic connections to α-motoneurons, can become dissociated from muscle activity. The natural ability of motor cortex neurons under voluntarily control to become dissociated from bodily movement may underlie the utility of this cortical area for controlling brain-computer interfaces.