Editing Brain–computer interface (section)

===Early work===
[[File:Monkey using a robotic arm.jpg|thumb|Monkey operating a robotic arm with brain–computer interfacing (Schwartz lab, University of Pittsburgh)]]
In 1969 [[operant conditioning]] studies by Fetz et al. at the Regional Primate Research Center and Department of Physiology and Biophysics, [[University of Washington School of Medicine]] showed that monkeys could learn to control the deflection of a [[biofeedback]] arm with neural activity.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fetz EE | title = Operant conditioning of cortical unit activity | journal = Science | volume = 163 | issue = 3870 | pages = 955–958 | date = February 1969 | pmid = 4974291 | doi = 10.1126/science.163.3870.955 | s2cid = 45427819 | bibcode = 1969Sci...163..955F }}</ref> Similar work in the 1970s established that monkeys could learn to control the firing rates of individual and multiple neurons in the primary [[motor cortex]] if they were rewarded accordingly.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Schmidt EM, McIntosh JS, Durelli L, Bak MJ | title = Fine control of operantly conditioned firing patterns of cortical neurons | journal = Experimental Neurology | volume = 61 | issue = 2 | pages = 349–369 | date = September 1978 | pmid = 101388 | doi = 10.1016/0014-4886(78)90252-2 | s2cid = 37539476 }}</ref>

[[Algorithms]] to reconstruct movements from [[motor cortex]] [[neurons]], which control movement, date back to the 1970s. In the 1980s, Georgopoulos at [[Johns Hopkins University]] found a mathematical relationship between the electrical responses of single motor cortex neurons in [[rhesus macaque|rhesus macaque monkeys]] and the direction in which they moved their arms. He also found that dispersed groups of neurons, in different areas of the monkey's brains, collectively controlled motor commands. He was able to record the firings of neurons in only one area at a time, due to equipment limitations.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Georgopoulos AP, Lurito JT, Petrides M, Schwartz AB, Massey JT | title = Mental rotation of the neuronal population vector | journal = Science | volume = 243 | issue = 4888 | pages = 234–236 | date = January 1989 | pmid = 2911737 | doi = 10.1126/science.2911737 | s2cid = 37161168 | bibcode = 1989Sci...243..234G }}</ref>

Several groups have been able to capture complex brain motor cortex signals by recording from [[neural ensemble]]s (groups of neurons) and using these to control external devices.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}