Abstract
Electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals have been successfully used to provide information about arm movement direction, individual finger movements and even continuous arm movement trajectories. Thus, ECoG has been proposed as a potential control signal for implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) in paralyzed patients. For the neuronal control of a prosthesis with versatile hand/arm functions, it is also necessary to successfully decode different types of grasping movements, such as precision grip and whole-hand grip. Although grasping is one of the most frequent and important hand movements performed in everyday life, until now, the decoding of ECoG activity related to different grasp types has not been systematically investigated. Here, we show that two different grasp types (precision vs. whole-hand grip) can be reliably distinguished in natural reach-to-grasp movements in single-trial ECoG recordings from the human motor cortex. Self-paced movement execution in a paradigm accounting for variability in grasped object position and weight was chosen to create a situation similar to everyday settings. We identified three informative signal components (low-pass-filtered component, low-frequency and high-frequency amplitude modulations), which allowed for accurate decoding of precision and whole-hand grips. Importantly, grasp type decoding generalized over different object positions and weights. Within the frontal lobe, informative signals predominated in the precentral motor cortex and could also be found in the right hemisphere's homologue of Broca's area. We conclude that ECoG signals are promising candidates for BMIs that include the restoration of grasping movements.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.