Forward prediction in the posterior parietal cortex and dynamic brain-machine interface

Abstract

While remarkable progress has been made in brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) over the past two decades, it is still difficult to utilize neural signals to drive artificial actuators to produce predictive movements in response to dynamic stimuli. In contrast to naturalistic limb movements largely based on forward planning, brain-controlled neuroprosthetics mainly rely on feedback without prior trajectory formation. As an important sensorimotor interface integrating multisensory inputs and efference copy, the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) might play a proactive role in predictive motor control. Here it is proposed that predictive neural activity in PPC could be decoded to provide prosthetic control signals for guiding BMI systems in dynamic environments.