Work toward real-time control of a cortical neural prothesis

Implantable devices that interact directly with the human nervous system have been gaining acceptance in the field of medicine since the 1960´s. More recently, as is noted by the FDA approval of a deep brain stimulator for movement disorders, interest has shifted toward direct communication with the central nervous system (CNS). Deep brain stimulation (DBS) can have a remarkable effect on the lives of those with certain types of disabilities such as Parkinson´s disease, Essential Tremor, and dystonia. To correct for many of the motor impairments not treatable by DBS (e.g. quadriplegia), it would be desirable to extract from the CNS a control signal for movement. A direct interface with motor cortical neurons could provide an optimal signal for restoring movement. In order to accomplish this, a real-time conversion of simultaneously recorded neural activity to an online command for movement is required. A system has been established to isolate the cellular activity of a group of motor neurons and interpret their movement-related information with a minimal delay. The real-time interpretation of cortical activity on a millisecond time scale provides an integral first step in the development of a direct brain-computer interface (BCI)