TY - JOUR T1 - Electrocorticographic (ECoG) Correlates of Human Arm Movements. JF - Exp Brain Res Y1 - 2012 A1 - Nicholas R Anderson A1 - Blakely, Timothy A1 - Gerwin Schalk A1 - Leuthardt, E C A1 - Moran, Daniel W KW - arm tuning KW - brain-computer interfaces KW - cosine tuning KW - Electrocorticography KW - Motor Cortex KW - subdural electroencephalography AB - Invasive and non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) studies have long focused on the motor cortex for kinematic control of artificial devices. Most of these studies have used single-neuron recordings or electroencephalography (EEG). Electrocorticography (ECoG) is a relatively new recording modality in BCI research that has primarily been built on successes in EEG recordings. We built on prior experiments related to single-neuron recording and quantitatively compare the extent to which different brain regions reflect kinematic tuning parameters of hand speed, direction, and velocity in both a reaching and tracing task in humans. Hand and arm movement experiments using ECoG have shown positive results before, but the tasks were not designed to tease out which kinematics are encoded. In non-human primates, the relationships among these kinematics have been more carefully documented, and we sought to begin elucidating that relationship in humans using ECoG. The largest modulation in ECoG activity for direction, speed, and velocity representation was found in the primary motor cortex. We also found consistent cosine tuning across both tasks, to hand direction and velocity in the high gamma band (70-160 Hz). Thus, the results of this study clarify the neural substrates involved in encoding aspects of motor preparation and execution and confirm the important role of the motor cortex in BCI applications. VL - 223 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23001369 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Temporal evolution of gamma activity in human cortex during an overt and covert word repetition task. JF - Front Hum Neurosci Y1 - 2012 A1 - Leuthardt, E C A1 - Pei, Xiao-Mei A1 - Breshears, Jonathan A1 - Charles M Gaona A1 - Sharma, Mohit A1 - Zachary V. Freudenberg A1 - Barbour, Dennis L A1 - Gerwin Schalk KW - cortex KW - Electrocorticography KW - gamma rhythms KW - human KW - Speech AB -

Several scientists have proposed different models for cortical processing of speech. Classically, the regions participating in language were thought to be modular with a linear sequence of activations. More recently, modern theoretical models have posited a more hierarchical and distributed interaction of anatomic areas for the various stages of speech processing. Traditional imaging techniques can only define the location or time of cortical activation, which impedes the further evaluation and refinement of these models. In this study, we take advantage of recordings from the surface of the brain [electrocorticography (ECoG)], which can accurately detect the location and timing of cortical activations, to study the time course of ECoG high gamma (HG) modulations during an overt and covert word repetition task for different cortical areas. For overt word production, our results show substantial perisylvian cortical activations early in the perceptual phase of the task that were maintained through word articulation. However, this broad activation is attenuated during the expressive phase of covert word repetition. Across the different repetition tasks, the utilization of the different cortical sites within the perisylvian region varied in the degree of activation dependent on which stimulus was provided (auditoryor visual cue) and whether the word was to be spoken or imagined. Taken together, the data support current models of speech that have been previously described with functional imaging. Moreover, this study demonstrates that the broad perisylvian speech network activates early and maintains suprathreshold activation throughout the word repetition task that appears to be modulated by the demands of different conditions.

VL - 6 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22563311 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Neural Correlates of Covert Attention in Electrocorticographic (ECoG) Signals in Humans. JF - Front Hum Neurosci Y1 - 2011 A1 - Gunduz, Aysegul A1 - Peter Brunner A1 - Amy Daitch A1 - Leuthardt, E C A1 - A L Ritaccio A1 - Pesaran, Bijan A1 - Gerwin Schalk KW - covert attention KW - Electrocorticography KW - intention KW - motor response KW - visual-spatial attention AB -

Attention is a cognitive selection mechanism that allocates the limited processing resources of the brain to the sensory streams most relevant to our immediate goals, thereby enhancing responsiveness and behavioral performance. The underlying neural mechanisms of orienting attention are distributed across a widespread cortical network. While aspects of this network have been extensively studied, details about the electrophysiological dynamics of this network are scarce. In this study, we investigated attentional networks using electrocorticographic (ECoG) recordings from the surface of the brain, which combine broad spatial coverage with high temporal resolution, in five human subjects. ECoG was recorded when subjects covertly attended to a spatial location and responded to contrast changes in the presence of distractors in a modified Posner cueing task. ECoG amplitudes in the alpha, beta, and gamma bands identified neural changes associated with covert attention and motor preparation/execution in the different stages of the task. The results show that attentional engagement was primarily associated with ECoG activity in the visual, prefrontal, premotor, and parietal cortices. Motor preparation/execution was associated with ECoG activity in premotor/sensorimotor cortices. In summary, our results illustrate rich and distributed cortical dynamics that are associated with orienting attention and the subsequent motor preparation and execution. These findings are largely consistent with and expand on primate studies using intracortical recordings and human functional neuroimaging studies.

VL - 5 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22046153 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Microscale recording from human motor cortex: implications for minimally invasive electrocorticographic brain-computer interfaces. JF - Neurosurg Focus Y1 - 2009 A1 - Leuthardt, E C A1 - Zachary V. Freudenberg A1 - Bundy, David T A1 - Roland, Jarod KW - brain-computer interface KW - Electrocorticography KW - Motor Cortex AB -

OBJECT: 

There is a growing interest in the use of recording from the surface of the brain, known as electrocorticography (ECoG), as a practical signal platform for brain-computer interface application. The signal has a combination of high signal quality and long-term stability that may be the ideal intermediate modality for future application. The research paradigm for studying ECoG signals uses patients requiring invasive monitoring for seizure localization. The implanted arrays span cortex areas on the order of centimeters. Currently, it is unknown what level of motor information can be discerned from small regions of human cortex with microscale ECoG recording.

METHODS: 

In this study, a patient requiring invasive monitoring for seizure localization underwent concurrent implantation with a 16-microwire array (1-mm electrode spacing) placed over primary motor cortex. Microscale activity was recorded while the patient performed simple contra- and ipsilateral wrist movements that were monitored in parallel with electromyography. Using various statistical methods, linear and nonlinear relationships between these microcortical changes and recorded electromyography activity were defined.

RESULTS: 

Small regions of primary motor cortex (< 5 mm) carry sufficient information to separate multiple aspects of motor movements (that is, wrist flexion/extension and ipsilateral/contralateral movements).

CONCLUSIONS: 

These findings support the conclusion that small regions of cortex investigated by ECoG recording may provide sufficient information about motor intentions to support brain-computer interface operations in the future. Given the small scale of the cortical region required, the requisite implanted array would be minimally invasive in terms of surgical placement of the electrode array.

VL - 27 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3171/2009.4.FOCUS0980 IS - 1 ER -