PS263 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Primary Motor Cortex, Spinal Cord, Red Nucleus
Document Summary
Movement: sensory systems provide input to the brain, most of the output is movement. Synchronize sensory input, lots of muscles: different kinds of movement: Muscles: lateral and medial (anterior) corticospinal tracts: Lateral controls contralateral lateral muscles (arms, legs) Anterior controls both sides" medial muscles (neck, torso) Corticospinal: goes from cortex to spinal cord. Cerebellum: also projects to the corticospinal tract. Inputs to the primary motor cortex: posterior parietal cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor cortex, basal ganglia [not shown; not cortex, prefrontal cortex. Tracks the position of the body relative to objects in the world. Involved in initial planning to move: activated (well) before a movement is initiated, damage causes apraxia: inability to perform actions intentionally (but can move spontaneously) E. g. difficulty making the correct movements to control a tool. Encodes only what action is planned, the goal: actotopic encoding. Independent of which part(s) of the body are involved. Actotopic activation: the goal of the action determines the activation.
