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Brain activity predicts the force of your actions

Research

Researchers have found a link between the activity in nerve clusters in the brain and the amount of force generated in a physical action, opening the way for the development of better devices to assist paralysed patients.

Illustration of head and brain. © Adrian Grosu - Shutterstock

A clear link between the activity in nerve clusters in the brain and the amount of force generated in a physical action has been demonstrated by Oxford University researchers, opening the way for the development of better devices to assist paralysed patients.

Coordinated patterns of electrical activity in the basal ganglia – clusters of nerve cells in the brain – were shown to predict how much force is generated in the voluntary physical actions they help control, such as making a fist or raising a leg.

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