Motor systems neuroscience seeks to understand how the brain controls movement. To minimize confounding variables, large-animal studies typically constrain body movement from areas not under observation, ensuring consistent, repeatable behaviors. Such studies have fueled decades of research, but they may be artificially limiting the richness of neural data observed, preventing generalization to more natural movements and settings. Neuroscience studies of unconstrained movement would capture a greater range of behavior and a more complete view of neuronal activity, but instrumenting an experimental rig suitable for large animals presents substantial engineering challenges. Here, we present a markerless, full-body motion tracking and synchronized wireless neural electrophysiology platform for large, ambulatory animals. Composed of four depth (RGB-D) cameras that provide a 360° view of a 4.5-square-meters enclosed area, this system is designed to record a diverse range of neuroethologically relevant behaviors. This platform also allows for the simultaneous acquisition of hundreds of wireless neural recording channels in multiple brain regions. As behavioral and neuronal data are generated at rates below 200 megabytes per second, a single desktop can facilitate hours of continuous recording. This setup is designed for systems neuroscience and neuroengineering research, where synchronized kinematic behavior and neural data are the foundation for investigation. By enabling the study of previously unexplored movement tasks, this system can generate insights into the functioning of the mammalian motor system and provide a platform to develop brain-machine interfaces for unconstrained applications.

中文翻译：

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用于动态系统神经科学的无标记平台

运动系统神经科学旨在了解大脑如何控制运动。为了尽量减少混杂变量，大型动物研究通常会限制未观察区域的身体运动，以确保一致、可重复的行为。此类研究推动了数十年的研究，但它们可能人为地限制了观察到的神经数据的丰富性，从而阻止了对更自然运动和环境的推广。不受约束的运动的神经科学研究将捕捉到更大范围的行为和更完整的神经元活动视图，但为大型动物配备实验装置带来了巨大的工程挑战。在这里，我们提出了一个无标记的全身运动跟踪和同步无线神经电生理平台，适用于大型动态动物。该系统由四个深度 (RGB-D) 摄像头组成，可提供 4.5 平方米封闭区域的 360° 视图，旨在记录各种与神经行为学相关的行为。该平台还允许同时采集多个大脑区域中的数百个无线神经记录通道。由于行为和神经元数据的生成速度低于每秒 200 兆字节，因此单个桌面可以促进数小时的连续记录。此设置专为系统神经科学和神经工程研究而设计，其中同步运动行为和神经数据是研究的基础。通过研究以前未开发的运动任务，