Mind-controlled prosthetic limbs have been a reality fora few years, but researchers have not found ways to give the people who use them the same, smooth motor control that people have over their natural limbs.

Now, a team of researchers says the members have solved part of the problem of smooth motor control by connecting an artificial limb to a different part of the brain. Previous designs for mind-controlled prostheses linked the artificial limb to either the person's motor cortex or the individual's premotor cortex, which both translate signals from the brain to the limbs.

This time, the connections to the robotic arm were wired into a patient's posterior parietal cortex, which is located on the side of the head near the ear.

"The [posterior parietal cortex] forms the initial plans to make movements," said Richard Andersen, a professor of neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology and one of the researchers who developed the new prosthesis. For example, when a person decides to grab a coffee cup, the posterior parietal cortex outlines the steps in movement, then, the motor cortexes translate that plan into actual signals that are sent to specific parts of the arm.

Krishna Shenoy, a professor of electrical engineering who studies neural prostheses at Stanford, was enthusiastic about the new prosthesis. "This is clearly the very first recordings from [the] posterior parietal cortex in humans in the context of qualifying the signals for use in prostheses," he said. "It is important to investigate many brain areas for potential use in prostheses, as different areas may well have different advantages.""This is an excellent example of this important biomedical science and engineering research path in action," Shenoy said.
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Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-01/uocf-nto012417.php?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C9623900630

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