Learning-related population dynamics in right and left dorsal premotor cortex during typing skill acquisition

Abstract

Advances in intracortical brain-computer interface (BCI) technology have enabled increasingly sophisticated communication paradigms, including for decoding intended speech and touch typing. However, the methods by which intracortical neural population dynamics are engaged during practice-related skill acquisition in humans remain poorly understood. Here, we examined learning-related changes in neural activity during motor skill acquisition in a right-handed BCI clinical trial participant with tetraplegia, with intracortical microelectrode arrays placed in the bilateral dorsal precentral gyri (Brodmann area 6d), who learned how to type using a BCI-enabled typing interface. While decoder performance remained stable across sessions, typing speed improved with practice, indicating practice-related skill acquisition. Over weeks, low-dimensional neural population activity became progressively more compact, and this compaction was strongly associated with faster typing, independent of decoder accuracy. Although this compaction was observed bilaterally in 6d, firing-rate modulation and cross-session generalization were selectively enhanced in left 6d. Moreover, neural population changes across sessions were largely accounted for by canonical correlation analysis in right 6d, but only partially accounted for in left 6d. Together, these findings demonstrate that human intracortical neuro-motor skill acquisition related to intended typing engages shared bilateral population-level dynamics, with additional learning-related changes selectively expressed in dominant dorsal premotor cortex.