Module: Principles of Neural control of movement and neuroengineering How the central nervous system controls muscle forces; Neurons, upper and lower motoneurons, Cortical and brainstem function, Interneurons and Motor Units. Neuroengineering applications for studying the neural control of movement; invasive and non-invasive recordings, electrical stimulation of the nervous system.
Module: Electrophysiology Generation of an action potential, difference between intracellular and extracellular action potential, sparsity of the action potential in a matrix of electrodes.
Module: Generation of EMG signals and analysis Recording electrophysiological data in humans; examples of EMG and EEG recordings.
Module: Oscillations in neuronal networks Coherence analysis; Common synaptic input to populations of neurons; Noise in the nervous system; Associations between EEG and EMG signals; Startle responses
Module: Simulation of muscle forces from the firing of individual motoneurons Motor unit model, Hodgkin–Huxley model, Muscle Properties
Module: EMG signals in Neural Pathologies Parkinson’s and Spinal Cord Injury, Motor unit analysis in neurodegenerative and neurotraumatic diseases.
Module: MATLAB / Python practical coursework Extraction of neural information from electrophysiological signals; associations of information between electrophysiological signals and behavioural data; Experiment in humans.