Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT), UMR 7289, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, 13005 Marseille, France.
Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT), UMR 7289, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, 13005 Marseille, France; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6), Jülich Research Centre, 52428 Jülich, Germany.
Cell Rep. 2023 Feb 28;42(2):112136. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112136. Epub 2023 Feb 18.
How do patterns of neural activity in the motor cortex contribute to the planning of a movement? A recent theory developed for single movements proposes that the motor cortex acts as a dynamical system whose initial state is optimized during the preparatory phase of the movement. This theory makes important yet untested predictions about preparatory dynamics in more complex behavioral settings. Here, we analyze preparatory activity in non-human primates planning not one but two movements simultaneously. As predicted by the theory, we find that parallel planning is achieved by adjusting preparatory activity within an optimal subspace to an intermediate state reflecting a trade-off between the two movements. The theory quantitatively accounts for the relationship between this intermediate state and fluctuations in the animals' behavior down at the trial level. These results uncover a simple mechanism for planning multiple movements in parallel and further point to motor planning as a controlled dynamical process.
运动皮层中的神经活动模式如何有助于运动的规划？最近提出的一个用于单一运动的理论认为，运动皮层作为一个动力系统，其初始状态在运动的准备阶段得到优化。该理论对更复杂行为环境中的预备动力学做出了重要但未经检验的预测。在这里，我们分析了非人类灵长类动物同时计划两个而不是一个运动的预备活动。正如该理论所预测的那样，我们发现通过在最优子空间内调整预备活动来实现并行规划，以达到反映两个运动之间权衡的中间状态。该理论从理论上定量解释了中间状态与动物行为在试验水平上波动之间的关系。这些结果揭示了一种简单的机制，用于并行规划多个运动，进一步表明运动规划是一个受控制的动力过程。
