ABSTRACT
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) include a broad range of systems that translate recorded brain activity into a signal that provides a coupling of physical sensor to devices to record and interpret brain activity. The purpose of these interfaces can range from diagnostic signals to those that provide a replacement output for lost function, such as voluntary arm or leg movement or speech. Neuromotor prosthetics (NMPs) are a subset of BCIs in which signals are recorded from movement-related areas of the brain that give rise to voluntary movement in healthy, able-bodied adults. NMPs can be considered an alternative and complementary approach to therapies based in molecular biology. In the case of spinal cord injury, for example, molecular approaches might promote the regeneration of corticospinal axons across damaged areas of the cord to synapse onto motor neuron pools below, whereas an NMP would record directly from the primary motor cortex where the cell bodies of those axons are located, decode ensemble activity, and then map the resulting control signals onto electrical stimulators implanted in muscles, thereby bypassing the spinal cord injury. One could envision two such devices working in tandem to promote and restore function.
