Decoding continuous goal-directed movement from human brain-wide intracranial recordings

Reaching out your hand is an effortless yet complex behavior that is indispensable in daily life. Restoring arm functionality is therefore rated a top priority by people with tetraplegia. Recently, neural correlates of movement have been observed and decoded beyond the motor cortex, but the degree and granularity of movement representation is not fully understood. Here, we explore the neural content of brain-wide movement-related neural activity by decoding neural correlates into 12 different kinematics of goal-directed reaching behavior. Eighteen participants implanted with stereotactic electroencephalography electrodes performed a gamified 3D goal-directed movement task. We demonstrate that continuous movement kinematics can be decoded from distributed recordings using low, mid and high frequency information in all participants using preferential subspace identification (PSID). The neural correlates of movement were distributed throughout the brain, including deeper structures such as the basal ganglia and insula. Moreover, we show that hand position could only be decoded using a goal-directed reference frame, indicating that widespread low-frequency activity is involved in higher-order processing of movements. Our results strengthen the evidence that widespread motor-related dynamics exist across numerous brain regions and can be used to continuously decode movement. The results may provide new opportunities for motor brain-computer interfaces for individuals with a compromised motor cortex, e.g. after stroke, or for control signals in adaptive closed-loop systems.