Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia

Leigh R. Hochberg, Mijail D. Serruya, Gerhard M. Friehs, Jon A. Mukand, Maryam Saleh, Abraham H. Caplan, Almut Branner, David Chen, Richard D. Penn and John P. Donoghue ()
Additional contact information
Leigh R. Hochberg: Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Mijail D. Serruya: Department of Neuroscience and Brain Science Program
Gerhard M. Friehs: Brown University
Jon A. Mukand: Brown University
Maryam Saleh: Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc.
Abraham H. Caplan: Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc.
Almut Branner: Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc.
David Chen: Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
Richard D. Penn: University of Chicago Hospitals
John P. Donoghue: Department of Neuroscience and Brain Science Program

Nature, 2006, vol. 442, issue 7099, 164-171

Abstract: Abstract Neuromotor prostheses (NMPs) aim to replace or restore lost motor functions in paralysed humans by routeing movement-related signals from the brain, around damaged parts of the nervous system, to external effectors. To translate preclinical results from intact animals to a clinically useful NMP, movement signals must persist in cortex after spinal cord injury and be engaged by movement intent when sensory inputs and limb movement are long absent. Furthermore, NMPs would require that intention-driven neuronal activity be converted into a control signal that enables useful tasks. Here we show initial results for a tetraplegic human (MN) using a pilot NMP. Neuronal ensemble activity recorded through a 96-microelectrode array implanted in primary motor cortex demonstrated that intended hand motion modulates cortical spiking patterns three years after spinal cord injury. Decoders were created, providing a ‘neural cursor’ with which MN opened simulated e-mail and operated devices such as a television, even while conversing. Furthermore, MN used neural control to open and close a prosthetic hand, and perform rudimentary actions with a multi-jointed robotic arm. These early results suggest that NMPs based upon intracortical neuronal ensemble spiking activity could provide a valuable new neurotechnology to restore independence for humans with paralysis.

Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04970 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:442:y:2006:i:7099:d:10.1038_nature04970

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature04970

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().