Large-scale spatio-temporal patterns in motor cortex involved in motor control

Talk abstract: We have previously documented that motor cortical oscillations in the beta frequency range (~20 Hz) as measured by local field potential recordings propagate as travelling waves across the surface of the primary motor cortex along a rostral-to-caudal axis while monkeys perform a variety of visuo-motor tasks including simple reaching tasks and more complex reach-to-grasp tasks. We demonstrate here that simultaneously recorded neurons in non-human primates coordinate their spiking activity in a sequential manner that mirrors the dominant wave propagation directions of the local field potentials.  We are beginning to test the hypothesis that this pattern of propagation may serve to sequentially recruit neurons representing different limb segments in a coordinated fashion.