CogBio - Lecture 11 - Motor System - Student - PDT
CogBio - Lecture 11 - Motor System - Student - PDT
CogBio - Lecture 11 - Motor System - Student - PDT
Presynaptic
terminals
Muscle
fibre
Motor neurons ‘synapse’ (communicate) with muscle fibres rather than other
neurons
- The neuromuscular junction (acetylcholine )
- Causes the muscle to contract (a movement).
How do we move?
Muscles attached to bones with tendons
Biceps muscle
contracts to flex the
arm
Triceps muscle
contracts to extend
the arm
Muscles and Their Movements
• Animal movement depends on muscle contractions
• Smooth muscles: control the digestive system and other organs
• Skeletal muscles/striated muscles: control movement of the
body in relation to the environment
• Cardiac muscles: heart muscles that have properties of skeletal
and smooth muscles
Muscles and Their Movements (cont’d.)
• Fluidity of movement depends on:
body
• Muscle spindles are proprioceptors parallel to the muscle that responds to a
Right
Four major pathways
Dorsolateral Ventromedial
Corticospinal Corticorubrospinal Corticospinal Cortico-brainstem-spinal
control the movements of the limbs involved in the control of posture and
whole-body movements (walking)
Motor control in the brain
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Hierarchical Motor Control
Posterior “My tea is close, and I
Prefrontal cortex
parietal cortex want to drink it”
Basal ganglia
Cerebellum
Muscles
The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)
• General role in ‘higher-order’ cognitive functions (not specialised
for motor control).
• Involved in planning, selecting responses and generating intentions
to move.
• Premotor cortex
• Active during preparation for movement
• Receives information about a target
• Integrates information about position and posture of the body;
organizes the direction of the movement in space
• Supplementary motor cortex
• Organizes rapid sequence of movements in a specific order; inhibitory if
necessary
• Active seconds before the movement
Mirror Neurons
Found in secondary motor cortex, in the premotor cortex
(Rizzolatti et al, 1996)
behaviour
Primary motor cortex (M1)