Andersen Lab
Announcements
Caltech News: First Findings of Mirror-like Activity in Individual Human Neurons
MIT Quest for Intelligence: Quest seminar series: Prof. Richard Andersen, Caltech
Le Monde: The Chen couple or geopolitical philanthropy of the 21st century <pdf version>
Rolling Stone: Neuralink, Elon Musk, and the Race to Put Chips Into Our Brains <pdf version>
Caltech News: Improving Brain–Machine Interfaces with Machine Learning
Andersen Receives Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Neurological Research
Caltech News: A Window Into the Brain
USC researchers pioneer new brain imaging technique through clear "window" in patient's skull
New Publications
Kelly Kadlec, Jorge Gamez, Tyson Aflalo, Charles Guan, Emily R. Rosario, Kelsie Pejsa, Ausaf Bari, Nader Pouratian, Richard Andersen. "Distinct patterns of whole-body coding in human motor cortex and posterior parietal cortex." Neuron 115, 1–15. (2026) PMID: 42896556 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.09.030 <pdf version>
Bingchuan Liu, David Bjanes, Liang She, Kelsie Pejsa, Brian Lee, Charles Y. Liu, Richard A. Andersen. "Human single-neuron correlates of somatosensation." doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.07.757446 <pdf version>
Mackenzie J Thurston, David Bjanes, Sarah K. Wandelt, Kelsie Pejsa, Brian Lee, Charles Liu, Richard A. Andersen. "Neural encoding of grasp and object properties in the posterior parietal and motor cortices of the cortical grasping network in tetraplegic humans." doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.10.750758 <pdf version>
V. Bougou, J. Gamez, E. R. Rosario, C. Liu, K. Pejsa, A. Bari, R. A. Andersen. "Hierarchical and Context-Dependent Encoding of Actions in Human Posterior Parietal and Motor Cortex." Cell 189, 5304–5317 August 20, 2026; PMID: 42580336 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.07.032 <pdf version>
Fei Yin, Charles Guan, Tyson Aflalo, Jorge Gamez, Kelsie Pejsa, Emily Rosario, Charles Liu, Ausaf Bari, Richard Andersen. "Duration-modulated neural population dynamics in humans during BMI controls." Commun Biol (2026). PMID: 42362714 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10369-8 <pdf version>
Lydia J. Lin, Thierri Callier, Baptiste Heiles, Kelsie Pejsa, Charles Y. Liu, Mikhail G. Shapiro, Richard A. Andersen. "Functional ultrasound imaging through a human cranial window for mesoscopic mapping of motor effector encoding within the sensorimotor cortex." bioRxiv 2026.07.03.735688; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.03.735688 <pdf version>
Mynhier NA, Gamez J, Pejsa K, Bari A, Murray RM, Andersen RA. "The Compositional Encoding of Hand-Eye Coordinated Movements for Single Neurons in the Posterior Parietal Cortex." bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026 Apr 7:2026.04.04.716384. PMID: 41993291; PMCID: PMC13081965. doi: 10.64898/2026.04.04.716384 <pdf version>
Xinyun Zou, Jorge Gamez, Meghna Menon, Phillip Ring, Chadwick Boulay, Likhith Chitneni, Jackson Brennecke, Shana R. Melby, Gracy Kureel, Kelsie Pejsa, Emily R. Rosario, Ausaf A. Bari, Aniruddh Ravindran, Tyson Aflalo, Spencer S. Kellis, Dimitar Filev, Florian Solzbacher, Richard A. Andersen. "Control of a commercially available vehicle by a tetraplegic human using a brain-computer interface". arXiv 2508.11805 doi: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.11805 <pdf version>
Research
Our behaviors are dictated by our intentions, but we have only recently begun to understand how the brain forms intentions to act. The posterior parietal cortex is situated between the sensory and the movement regions of the cerebral cortex and serves as a bridge from sensation to action. We have found that an anatomical map of intentions exists within this area, with one part devoted to planning eye movements and another part to planning arm movements (Andersen and Buneo 2002). The action plans exist in a cognitive form, specifying the goal of the intended movement. Current studies involve examining decision making, stages in motor planning, coordinate transformations for sensory guided movements and motion perception. In recent years we have also used the findings from these animal studies to develop brain-machine interfaces using intention signals recorded from the posterior parietal cortex of tetraplegic human participants (Aflalo et al. 2015).
