Emily Oby, PhD
Research Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh
Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Wickenden Room 321
About Dr. Oby:
Emily Oby is a research professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience at Northwestern University and an MA in Astrophysics from Johns Hopkins University. Her work uses brain-computer interfaces in Rhesus monkeys to ask basic science questions about how we execute movements and learn new motor skills. She also develops brain-computer interface algorithms that have potential clinical relevance.
Abstract:
All organisms, from aplysia to humans, adapt their movements to their circumstances. Some behaviors are learned quickly, after only a few errant movements. Other behaviors are much more difficult to learn, requiring weeks of effort and the guidance of a coach. I use brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to study the neural population structure and flexibility involved in motor learning and motor control in Rhesus monkeys. In this talk, I will examine how neural population structure changes with learning. First, I will show that in a BCI learning task, the structure of neural population activity constrains what is learned on short time scales. It takes many days and an incremental training procedure to change that structure and generate new patterns of neural activity. Second, I will show that neural population activity is also temporally constrained. Animals were unable to violate the naturally-occurring temporal structure in neural population activity observed in motor cortex when directly challenged to do so. These studies show that BCIs can provide new insights into the natural processes of motor planning, control, and learning. Finally, I will argue that the better we understand natural motor control, the better algorithms we can develop for clinical BCIs.