Abstract: Disclosed herein, in certain embodiments, are methods and systems for utilizing spike trains. In one aspect, encompassed by the disclosure is a method comprising: determining, by at least one processor, a plurality of spike trains from a plurality of neurons of a cerebral cortex of a subject. The method may comprise determining, by the at least one processor, a plurality of first layer feature vectors, the plurality of first layer feature vectors including a first feature vector that comprises temporal-relation values of a subset of the plurality of spike trains with respect to a time instance of a reference spike train of the subset, corresponding to a time constant ? having a first value. The method may comprise establishing, by the at least one processor, a first layer comprising a first plurality of clusters of the first layer feature vectors.

Abstract: Control signals for an object are developed from the neuron-originating electrical impulses detected by arrays of electrodes chronically implanted in a subject's cerebral cortex at the pre-motor and motor locations known to have association with arm movements. Taking as an input the firing rate of the sensed neurons or neuron groupings that affect a particular electrode, a coadaptive algorithm is used. In a closed-loop environment, where the animal subject can view its results, weighting factors in the algorithm are modified over a series of tests to emphasize cortical electrical impulses that result in movement of the object as desired. At the same time, the animal subject learns and modifies its cortical electrical activity to achieve movement of the object as desired. In one specific embodiment, the object moved was a cursor portrayed as a sphere in a virtual reality display. Target objects were presented to the subject, who then proceeded to move the cursor to the target and receive a reward.