CHAPTER 8: SENSORIMOTOR SYSTEM
CONCEPTS/PRINCIPLES
1 Sensorimotor System
2 Sensorimotor Association Cortex. There are two major areas of sensorimotor association cortex: the
3 Secondary Motor Cortex
4 Primary Motor Cortex
5 Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia
6 Descending Motor Pathways
7 Muscles
8 Receptor Organs of Tendons and The activity of skeletal muscles is monitored by two kinds of
Muscles
9 Stretch Reflex
10 Withdrawal Reflex
DESCRIPTION
The sensorimotor system encompasses all of the sensory, motor, and
central integration and processing components involved with
maintaining joint homeostasis during bodily movements.
posterior parietal association cortex (the portion of parietal neocortex
posterior to primary somatosensory cortex) is providing spatial
information and in directing attention.
Moreover, Dorsolateral prefrontal association cortex which receives
projections from the posterior parietal cortex that sends projections to
areas of secondary motor cortex, to primary motor cortex, and to the
frontal eye field.
Areas of secondary motor cortex are those that receive much of their
input from association cortex and send much of their output to
primary motor cortex. For many years, only two areas of secondary
motor cortex were known:
The supplementary motor area wraps over the top of the frontal lobe
and extends down its medial surface into the longitudinal fissure, and
the premotor cortex runs in a strip from the supplementary motor area
to the lateral fissure.
The primary motor cortex is located in the precentral gyrus of the
frontal lobe. It is the major point of convergence of cortical
sensorimotor signals, and it is the major, but not the only, point of
departure of sensorimotor signals from the cerebral cortex.
The cerebellum receives information from primary and secondary
motor cortex, information about descending motor signals from brain
stem motor nuclei, and feedback from motor responses via the
somatosensory and vestibular systems. Moreover, basal ganglia will
also perform a modulatory function, they contribute few fibers to
descending motor pathways; instead, they are part of neural loops that
receive cortical input from various cortical areas and transmit it back
to the cortex via the thalamus.
Neural signals are conducted from the primary motor cortex to the
motor neurons of the spinal cord over four different pathways.
Motor units are the smallest units of motor activity and each motor
unit comprises a single motor neuron and all of the individual skeletal
muscle fibers that it innervates.When the motor neuron fires, all the
muscle fibers of its unit contract together.
receptors: Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindles. Golgi tendon
organs are embedded in the tendons, which connect each skeletal
muscle to bone; muscle spindles are embedded in the muscle tissue
itself.
A stretch reflex is reflex elicited by a sudden external stretching force
on a muscle.Some example is patellar tendon reflex which the
resulting leg extension.
It is when sensory neurons fire and spinal interneurons fire -
excitatory: excite motor neurons in the bicep.