Shifts in Estimated Preferred Directions During Simulated BMI Experiments With No Adaptation

Experiments with brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) reveal that the estimated preferred direction (EPD) of cortical motor units may shift following the transition to brain control. However, the cause of those shifts, and in particular, whether they imply neural adaptation, is an open issue. Here we address this question in simulations and theoretical analysis. Simulations are based on the assumption that the brain implements optimal state estimation and feedback control and that cortical motor neurons encode the estimated state and control vector. Our simulations successfully reproduce apparent shifts in EPDs observed in BMI experiments with different BMI filters, including linear, Kalman and re-calibrated Kalman filters, even with no neural adaptation. Theoretical analysis identifies the conditions for reducing those shifts. We demonstrate that simulations that better satisfy those conditions result in smaller shifts in EPDs. We conclude that the observed shifts in EPDs may result from experimental conditions, and in particular correlated velocities or tuning weights, even with no adaptation. Under the above assumptions, we show that if neurons are tuned differently to the estimated velocity, estimated position and control signal, the EPD with respect to actual velocity may not capture the real PD in which the neuron encodes the estimated velocity. Our investigation provides theoretical and simulation tools for better understanding shifts in EPD and BMI experiments.