Studies show how the brain produces causally controlled substances

We know that the brain can direct thoughts, but it is difficult to determine how this can be achieved. Researchers at the Sainsbury Wellcome Center have designed a brain imaging interface (BMI) that allows mice to control cursor learning using just their brain activity. By monitoring this mouse-controlled mouse moving to a target location to receive a reward, the researchers were able to study how the brain deliberately represents control.

The study, published today in Neuron, illuminates how the brain produces causally controlled substances. The researchers found that when mice controlled the cursor, brain activity in the higher visual cortex was objective-driven and contained information about the animal’s intent. This research could one day help improve BMI planning.

“A brain device interface is a device that allows a person or animal to control a computer with the mind. In humans, that could be controlling an artificial arm to lift a cup of water, or move a cursor. on a computer to write a message using the mind. In animals, we use these tools as models to understand how to make BMI better, “said the paper ‘s first author, Dr Kelly Clancy. , who completed the study at the Sainsbury Wellcome Center, University College London, following previous work at Biozentrum, University of Basel.

“Right now, BMIs tend to be difficult for humans to use and it will take a long time to learn how to control a robotic arm for example. As soon as we understand the cloud cycles support how learn deliberate control, this work is starting to clarify, we hope we can make it easier for people to use BMI, “said the paper’s co-author, the High Commissioner. professor Tom Mrsic-Flogel, Director of the Wellcome Sainsbury Center, University College London.

Traditionally it has been difficult to study how causal controlled objects are represented in the brain. Imagine trying to figure out how the brain represents a cursor it controls against a cursor it is looking at passively. There are motor signals in the first case but not in the second, so it is difficult to compare the two. With BMIs, the subject does not move physically, so a cleaner comparison can be made.

In this study, the researchers used a technique called brain imaging, which allowed them to look at the entire dorsal surface of the cortex while the animal was using BMI. This device allowed a neutral screen of the cortex to deliberately control the areas involved in learning the cursor.

Visual cortical areas in mice were found to be involved in the activity. These areas included the parietal cortex, an area of ​​the brain that was associated with intention in humans.

Researchers have been studying the parietal cortex in humans for a long time. However, we did not at all expect this area to appear out on our neutral screen of the mouse brain. There seems to be something special about the parietal cortex because it sits between sensory and motor areas in the brain and could be a passive station between them,

Dr Kelly Clancy, Principal Research Author, Wellcome Sainsbury Center

By taking a deeper look at how this station works, the researchers hope to understand more about how the brain is controlled. In this study, mice learned to map brain activity to sensory feedback.

This is similar to how we learn to interact with the world – for example, we change how we use a computer mouse according to the gain situation. Our brains construct representations of how objects normally behave, and perform tasks accordingly. By understanding more about how such rules are created and updated in the brain, the researchers hope to be able to develop BMIs.