TY - JOUR

T1 - Movement is governed by rotational neural dynamics in spinal motor networks

AU - Lindén, Henrik

AU - Petersen, Peter C.

AU - Vestergaard, Mikkel

AU - Berg, Rune W.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Although the generation of movements is a fundamental function of the nervous system, the underlying neural principles remain unclear. As flexor and extensor muscle activities alternate during rhythmic movements such as walking, it is often assumed that the responsible neural circuitry is similarly exhibiting alternating activity1. Here we present ensemble recordings of neurons in the lumbar spinal cord that indicate that, rather than alternating, the population is performing a low-dimensional ‘rotation’ in neural space, in which the neural activity is cycling through all phases continuously during the rhythmic behaviour. The radius of rotation correlates with the intended muscle force, and a perturbation of the low-dimensional trajectory can modify the motor behaviour. As existing models of spinal motor control do not offer an adequate explanation of rotation1,2, we propose a theory of neural generation of movements from which this and other unresolved issues, such as speed regulation, force control and multifunctionalism, are readily explained.

AB - Although the generation of movements is a fundamental function of the nervous system, the underlying neural principles remain unclear. As flexor and extensor muscle activities alternate during rhythmic movements such as walking, it is often assumed that the responsible neural circuitry is similarly exhibiting alternating activity1. Here we present ensemble recordings of neurons in the lumbar spinal cord that indicate that, rather than alternating, the population is performing a low-dimensional ‘rotation’ in neural space, in which the neural activity is cycling through all phases continuously during the rhythmic behaviour. The radius of rotation correlates with the intended muscle force, and a perturbation of the low-dimensional trajectory can modify the motor behaviour. As existing models of spinal motor control do not offer an adequate explanation of rotation1,2, we propose a theory of neural generation of movements from which this and other unresolved issues, such as speed regulation, force control and multifunctionalism, are readily explained.

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-022-05293-w

DO - 10.1038/s41586-022-05293-w

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36224394

AN - SCOPUS:85139631533

VL - 610

SP - 526

EP - 531

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

SN - 0028-0836

ER -