Action potentials are recorded from the electrode array using a head-stage and a filter-amplifier (Multi Channel Systems MCS GmbH MEA1060-BC and FA60) and acquired by a standard desktop PC (running the Mathworks xPC Target operating system) through a supported data acquisition card (see xPC Target documentation). Every 500 μs, an interrupt service routine is executed to process the acquired “frame” of data (8 × 60 12 bit samples) while the card is continuously acquiring the next frame of data in the background. Action potentials are detected and aligned by a threshold criterion and further processed by the feedback generation system. More complex detection algorithms for either individual events (e.g., spikes) or spatio-temporal composites can be implemented without compromising the performance of the system. A tunable refractory period (2.5 ms) prevents multiple detection of single events that cross the threshold several times.