Preserved neural dynamics across animals performing similar behaviour

Mostafa Safaie, Research Associate
Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College of London
Mostafa Safaie Publications | Imperial College London

Abstract:
Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are promising therapeutic tools with the potential to transform many lives. Pioneering BCI studies have already enabled paralysed patients to move computer cursors, control robotic arms, produce speech, and even walk through spinal stimulation. Although undoubtedly remarkable, BCIs need to overcome major challenges, such as generalising across multiple users to produce consistent output.
In this work, we addressed this problem by drawing inspiration from how animals of the same species exhibit similar behaviours. The overall organisation of neural circuits is preserved across individuals because of their common evolutionarily specified developmental programme. Such organisation at the circuit level constrains neural activity, leading to low-dimensional latent dynamics across the neural population. Accordingly, we suggest that the shared circuit-level constraints within a species leads to suitably preserved latent dynamics across individuals.
In neural population recordings from monkey and mouse motor cortex, we showed that neural dynamics in individuals from the same species are surprisingly preserved when they perform similar behaviour. Neural population dynamics were also preserved when animals consciously planned future movements without overt behaviour. These preserved latent dynamics allowed us to decode planned and ongoing movements across different individuals, demonstrating the feasibility of developing generalisable decoders for BCIs. Furthermore, we found that preserved neural dynamics extend beyond cortical regions to the dorsal striatum, an evolutionarily older structure. Finally, using neural network models, we found that behavioural similarity is necessary but not sufficient for this preservation. We posit that these emergent dynamics result from evolutionary constraints on brain development and thus reflect fundamental properties of the neural basis of behaviour.

Invited by David Robbe

Monday, September 16th at 11 am – Inmed conference room