Neural mechanisms of volitional movement

Our goal is to understand how neural circuits in the brain give rise to volitional movement. A planning phase precedes all volitional movements in which the brain programs appropriate movement on the fly to achieve the goal at hand. This fundamental process dictates our behavior, ranging from speech to motor skills. Our work has isolated neural antecedents of volitional movements in the mouse brain (also known as ‘preparatory activity’ or ‘readiness potentials’ in humans). I will discuss our progress in delineating a brain-wide motor planning circuit and how preparatory activity instructs movement. 

Speaker Bio: Dr. Nuo Li is Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Li received his PhD from MIT, where he worked with Dr. Jim DiCarlo to examine how the primate visual system constructs invariance object representations. His postdoctoral project with Dr. Karel Svoboda at Janelia Research Campus contributed to the development of head-fixed behavioral paradigm in mice. At Baylor, Dr. Li’s lab has developed tools to study brain-wide circuits in the mouse supporting volitional movement. This work established the importance of the anterior lateral motor cortex (ALM) for decision-making and motor planning. Recently, he found that the cerebellum contributes critically to cognitive processes by reciprocally interacting with the frontal cortex. His research has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Research fellowship, Searle Scholars award, Pew Scholars award, McKnight Scholar award, and Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award.