NEURAL ENGINEERING CENTER Seminar
Speaker: Crispin Foli
Advisor: A. Bolu Ajiboye, PhD
Title: Rethinking the Motor Homunculus: An Updated View of Cortical Somatotopy
Location: Sears 439
Abstract:
The classical motor homunculus has long guided our understanding of somatotopy in the human motor cortex. However, recent advances in intracortical recording technology allow us to revisit this model with single-neuron precision. In the first part of this talk, I will present findings from complementary studies using high-density microelectrode array recordings in individuals with paralysis, revealing that regions such as the hand knob and ventral orofacial zones contain rich, whole-body representations. These results challenge the notion of strictly segregated body part encoding and uncover an intermixed representation of speech and motor functions across the precentral gyrus.
In the second part, I will present new findings from the Reconnecting the Hand and Arm to the Brain (ReHAB) study, showing that whole-body representations extend beyond the precentral gyrus to localized regions of sensory and parietal cortex. Additionally, our findings reveal distinct and complementary coding schemes across motor and non-motor areas, underscoring the diversity of representational strategies across cortical landscapes.
Together, these insights call for a reconceptualization of cortical somatotopy and inform the design of compact, high-performance brain-computer interfaces capable of decoding both speech and movement intentions from a single cortical region.