Abstract
Sensorimotor neuroscience with non-human primates usually mandates partial movement restraint to confine behavioral parameters and protect recording equipment. We present the Reach Cage and a versatile visuo-haptic interaction system (MaCaQuE) for investigating goal-directed whole-body movements of unrestrained monkeys. Two rhesus monkeys learned to conduct instructed reaches towards targets flexibly positioned in the cage. 3-D wrist movements were tracked in real time with video motion capture. We wirelessly recorded up to 128 broad-band neural signals at single unit resolution from three cortical sensorimotor areas. We demonstrate that repeated movements show small enough trial-to-trial variation to allow grouping of data for sufficient statistical power, and single neuron activity is selective for different reach movements. In conclusion, the Reach Cage in combination with wireless recordings allows correlating multi-channel neural dynamics with trained repetitive simpler movements, equivalent to conventional experiments, but also more complex goal-directed whole-body motor behaviors, like walk-and-reach movements.
Footnotes
Address: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
