Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in Primates

Reward modulation is represented in the motor cortex (M1) and could be used to implement more accurate decoding models to improve brain-computer interfaces (BCIs; Zhao et al., 2018). Analyzing trial-to-trial noise-correlations between neural units in the presence of rewarding (R) and non-rewarding (...

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Main Authors: Brittany Moore, Sheng Khang, Joseph Thachil Francis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.541920/full
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author Brittany Moore
Sheng Khang
Joseph Thachil Francis
Joseph Thachil Francis
author_facet Brittany Moore
Sheng Khang
Joseph Thachil Francis
Joseph Thachil Francis
author_sort Brittany Moore
collection DOAJ
description Reward modulation is represented in the motor cortex (M1) and could be used to implement more accurate decoding models to improve brain-computer interfaces (BCIs; Zhao et al., 2018). Analyzing trial-to-trial noise-correlations between neural units in the presence of rewarding (R) and non-rewarding (NR) stimuli adds to our understanding of cortical network dynamics. We utilized Pearson’s correlation coefficient to measure shared variability between simultaneously recorded units (32–112) and found significantly higher noise-correlation and positive correlation between the populations’ signal- and noise-correlation during NR trials as compared to R trials. This pattern is evident in data from two non-human primates (NHPs) during single-target center out reaching tasks, both manual and action observation versions. We conducted a mean matched noise-correlation analysis to decouple known interactions between event-triggered firing rate changes and neural correlations. Isolated reward discriminatory units demonstrated stronger correlational changes than units unresponsive to reward firing rate modulation, however, the qualitative response was similar, indicating correlational changes within the network as a whole can serve as another information channel to be exploited by BCIs that track the underlying cortical state, such as reward expectation, or attentional modulation. Reward expectation and attention in return can be utilized with reinforcement learning (RL) towards autonomous BCI updating.
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spelling doaj.art-93606bf844524bb9899f7b7af960ac082022-12-21T19:58:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532020-12-011410.3389/fnbeh.2020.541920541920Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in PrimatesBrittany Moore0Sheng Khang1Joseph Thachil Francis2Joseph Thachil Francis3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering, The University of Houston, Houston, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering, The University of Houston, Houston, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering, The University of Houston, Houston, TX, United StatesDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering, The University of Houston, Houston, TX, United StatesReward modulation is represented in the motor cortex (M1) and could be used to implement more accurate decoding models to improve brain-computer interfaces (BCIs; Zhao et al., 2018). Analyzing trial-to-trial noise-correlations between neural units in the presence of rewarding (R) and non-rewarding (NR) stimuli adds to our understanding of cortical network dynamics. We utilized Pearson’s correlation coefficient to measure shared variability between simultaneously recorded units (32–112) and found significantly higher noise-correlation and positive correlation between the populations’ signal- and noise-correlation during NR trials as compared to R trials. This pattern is evident in data from two non-human primates (NHPs) during single-target center out reaching tasks, both manual and action observation versions. We conducted a mean matched noise-correlation analysis to decouple known interactions between event-triggered firing rate changes and neural correlations. Isolated reward discriminatory units demonstrated stronger correlational changes than units unresponsive to reward firing rate modulation, however, the qualitative response was similar, indicating correlational changes within the network as a whole can serve as another information channel to be exploited by BCIs that track the underlying cortical state, such as reward expectation, or attentional modulation. Reward expectation and attention in return can be utilized with reinforcement learning (RL) towards autonomous BCI updating.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.541920/fullmotor cortexrewardreinforcement learningtemporal differencereward predictionreward prediction error
spellingShingle Brittany Moore
Sheng Khang
Joseph Thachil Francis
Joseph Thachil Francis
Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in Primates
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
motor cortex
reward
reinforcement learning
temporal difference
reward prediction
reward prediction error
title Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in Primates
title_full Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in Primates
title_fullStr Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in Primates
title_full_unstemmed Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in Primates
title_short Noise-Correlation Is Modulated by Reward Expectation in the Primary Motor Cortex Bilaterally During Manual and Observational Tasks in Primates
title_sort noise correlation is modulated by reward expectation in the primary motor cortex bilaterally during manual and observational tasks in primates
topic motor cortex
reward
reinforcement learning
temporal difference
reward prediction
reward prediction error
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.541920/full
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AT josephthachilfrancis noisecorrelationismodulatedbyrewardexpectationintheprimarymotorcortexbilaterallyduringmanualandobservationaltasksinprimates
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