Action

Anatomy of action
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Many cortical regions are involved in planning, control and execution of

movement

2 major subcortical structures: cerebellum and basal ganglia

Muscles are activated by alpha motor neurons (inputs from alpha motor
neurons cause muscle fibers to contract)

Brain innervates the spinal cord via the pyramidal and extrapyramidal tracts
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Corticospinal tract or Pyramidal tract originates in cortex and ends in spinal

cord

CST evolved only in primates

CST is important for dexterity and speech

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Monkey lesioned in corticospinal tract movie shows that they cant

grab things easily

The Basal ganglia

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includes the caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus, subthalamic nuclei and
substanti nigra

Cerebellum
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All cerebellar output originates in the deep cerebellar nuclei

3 regions
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1. Vestibulocerebellum

Controls balance and coordinates eye movements

2. Spinocerebellum

Receives sensory info from visual/auditory system

Lesion here can lead to disturbance of balance

3. Neocerebellum

Innervated by parietal and frontal lobes

Lesion produces ataxia disrupts fine coordination

Cerebellum has to do with feedback movement control at the end part of

movement
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Touching nose and object with finger task

Motor Cortex
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Correlated with movement direction

Georgeopulos monkey experiment

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Led to discovery of neurons with a preferred action direction and the

concept of action coding as a population vector

animal was trained to move the lever from center to one of 8

surrounding locations

activity of motor cortex was plotted next to each target location

results

many cells in motor areas show directional tuning (preferred

direction)

each neuron contributes to the overall activity level and we can

measure that by summing all individual vectors, called
population vector

so population vector provides a cortical representation of

movementp

Neurons have dynamic direction preference

3D representation of activity in a population of neurons in the dorsal

premotor cortex

Shows that when initial cues were presented, activity is up a

little due to anticipation (constructing a motor plan)

Bimanual movements following resection of the corpus callosum

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After resection of corpus callosum, they can do bimanual movements

better

Apraxia = failure to execute stored action

Disorder of skilled movements cause by lesion on left parietal

lobe

Cant show you how to use hammer or watch TV, etc.

Hamilton (2007) repetition suppression study

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Participants watched a movie clip of hand opening/closing a box

initial clip shows hand moving forward to open the box

In subsequent clips, the outcome was either repeated or novel, and the
kinematics (direction of motion) was either repeated or novel

Repetition suppression

Result

RS was strongest in the left inferior frontal gyrus when

movement was repeated

RS was strongest in right inferior parietal lobe when outcome

was repeated