Coding of movements in the motor cortex

•Defines coding of movements in motor cortex and traces its origin and history.•Focuses on the radical shift in 1980, from muscles/joints to extrapersonal space.•Traces the path of discovery of evolving neural movement trajectory in the 1980s.•Highlights the relations between coding of movement and neuroprosthetic applications.•Focuses on local inhibitory mechanisms as key factor for movement accuracy and speed.

The issue of coding of movement in the motor cortex has recently acquired special significance due to its fundamental importance in neuroprosthetic applications. The challenge of controlling a prosthetic arm by processed motor cortical activity has opened a new era of research in applied medicine but has also provided an 'acid test' for hypotheses regarding coding of movement in the motor cortex. The successful decoding of movement information from the activity of motor cortical cells using their directional tuning and population coding has propelled successful neuroprosthetic applications and, at the same time, asserted the utility of those early discoveries, dating back to the early 1980s [1,2].