title: Computing Arm Movements with a Monkey Brainet.
abstract: Traditionally, brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) extract motor commands from a single brain to control the movements of artificial devices. Here, we introduce a Brainet that utilizes very-large-scale brain activity (VLSBA) from two (B2) or three (B3) nonhuman primates to engage in a common motor behaviour. A B2 generated 2D movements of an avatar arm where each monkey contributed equally to X and Y coordinates; or one monkey fully controlled the X-coordinate and the other controlled the Y-coordinate. A B3 produced arm movements in 3D space, while each monkey generated movements in 2D subspaces (X-Y, Y-Z, or X-Z). With long-term training we observed increased coordination of behavior, increased correlations in neuronal activity between different brains, and modifications to neuronal representation of the motor plan. Overall, performance of the Brainet improved owing to collective monkey behaviour. These results suggest that primate brains can be integrated into a Brainet, which self-adapts to achieve a common motor goal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramakrishnan
authors.affiliation: Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ifft
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pais-Vieira
authors.affiliation: Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Yoon Woo
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Byun
authors.affiliation: Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Katie Z
authors.initials: KZ
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Mikhail A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lebedev
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Duke University Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Edmund and Lily Safra International Institute of Neurosciences of Natal, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Miguel A L
authors.initials: MAL
authors.lastname: Nicolelis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D062207:Brain-Computer Interfaces; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D000882:Haplorhini; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology