Neurale responsen tijdens actie-observatie in de motorische en premotorische cortex van de resusaap en hun toepassing in brain-machine interfaces

Neurons active during action observation and action execution (Action Observation/Execution Neurons, AOENs) were discovered in macaque premotor cortex three decades ago and have been described as the 'most hyped concept of neuroscience'. Their existence showed that action execution and action observation are closely related processes in the brain. A network of regions exhibiting AOE activity in the human brain has been associated with higher-order cognitive functions, including action understanding, emotion and empathy. Dysfunction within the AOE network has been linked to various disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder. However, recent studies in macaques have suggested that AOENs mainly play a role in low-level visual processing rather than high-level interpretation of observed actions. In this thesis, we will investigate the visual and motor properties of AOENs in more detail. We will use chronically implanted multi-electrode arrays and record neural activity during action observation in different brain areas that are part of the AOE network, including ventral premotor areas (PMv) F5c and F5p, dorsal premotor area (PMd) F2, primary motor cortex (M1), and pre-arcuate areas FEF and 45B. Using intracortical microstimulation, we will investigate the causal role of AOE sites in area F5c during visually guided grasping and assess the connectivity between different nodes of the AOE network. Next, we will leverage the knowledge obtained during these experiments to show that a motor brain-machine interface (BMI) can be controlled based on F5c neural activity. We will assess how the brain activity changes when comparing passively observing movements to actively trying to control the movements with the BMI. When the monkeys achieve a high success rate in simple 2D cursor control tasks, we will make the BMI tasks more complex by introducing realistic navigation in a virtual 3D environment. Taken together, the findings in this thesis will enhance our understanding of the neural processes underlying AOE activity and its potential applications for controlling a motor BMI.