Reorganization between preparatory and movement population responses in motor cortex

Neural populations can change the computation they perform on very short timescales. Although such flexibility is common, the underlying computational strategies at the population level remain unknown. To address this gap, we examined population responses in motor cortex during reach preparation and movement. We found that there exist exclusive and orthogonal population-level subspaces dedicated to preparatory and movement computations. This orthogonality yielded a reorganization in response correlations: the set of neurons with shared response properties changed completely between preparation and movement. Thus, the same neural population acts, at different times, as two separate circuits with very different…

• AP
  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• SF
  Simons Foundation

  Awards: SCGB#325233, 325233
• KF
  Kavli Foundation
• MF
  McKnight Foundation
• SS
  Searle Scholars Program
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NB
  N. Bud Grossman Center for Memory Research and Care