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Summary: Abstract-- An important challenge for neural prosthetics
research is to record from populations of neurons over
long periods of time, ideally for the lifetime of the
patient. Two new advances toward this goal are
described, the use of local field potentials (LFPs) and
autonomously positioned recording electrodes. LFPs are
the composite extracellular potential field from several
hundreds of neurons around the electrode tip. LFP
recordings can be maintained for longer periods of time
than single cell recordings. We find that similar
information can be decoded from LFP and spike
recordings, with better performance for state decodes
with LFPs and, depending on the area, equivalent or
slightly less than equivalent performance for signaling
the direction of planned movements. Movable electrodes
in microdrives can be adjusted in the tissue to optimize
recordings, but their movements must be automated to
be a practical benefit to patients. We have developed
automation algorithms and a meso-scale autonomous
electrode testbed, and demonstrated that this system can
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