Actions and Motor Control Flashcards
What is the process during an action?
Hundreds of muscle fibres must contract in a correct sequence and the correct amount of force
What does understanding motor control help with?
Can lead to improvements in treatment of people affected by movement disorders, can lead to improvements in human/object interfaces
What are the ways we study motor control?
Behavioural, muscle physiology, single unit electrophysiology, neuroimaging
How do we behaviourally study motor control?
Using video or electronic recording equipment to record the position of body parts in space and time.
What can behavioural methods measure?
Speed, accuracy and kinematics
What are the strengths of behavioural methods of studying motor control?
Allows us to systematically investigate the output of the action system
What are the limitations of behavioural methods of studying motor control?
Not a direct measurement of brain activity
What does muscle physiology record?
Records the activity of individual muscles or muscle fibers during action
What are the strengths of muscle physiology?
Allows an understanding of how muscles operate
What are the limitations of muscle physiology?
Not a direct measurement of brain activity
What do they do in single unit electrophysiology?
They implant electrodes in the brain and record activity of individual neurones
What does single unit electrophysiology record?
A number of neurones and measure their activity in real time
What are the strengths of single unit electrophysiology?
Allows for excellent spatial and temporal resolution at the level of a single neurone
What are the limitations of a single unit electrophysiology?
Cannot examine more than a miniscule percentage of the neurone at any one time
What neuroimagery is used in motor control?
fMRI and EEG
What are the strengths of neuroimaging?
Allows for a direct measure of activity in the human brain
What are the limitations of neuroimaging?
Recording equipment can restrict movement. Can be hard to localise processing in space or time.
How do muscles attach to the skeleton?
At the origin and insertion
What are muscles?
A collection of multiple muscle fibers
What do muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs provide in muscles?
Proprioceptive information from the muscle
How are muscle spindles and la axons specialised?
For detection of changes of muscle length
How are muscles organised?
Antagonistic pairs with extensors extending the join and flexors contracting the joint
What causes muscle contraction?
Motor neurones release neurotransmitters at the neuromuscular junction
What is the process at the neuromuscular junction?
Acetylcholine binds to the ionotropic receptors causing depolarisation.
Voltage gated ion channels open.
Rapid depolarisation allows an in-flow of calcium.
Calcium inside causes actin and myosin proteins to interact.
Acetylcholinesterase removed the neurotransmitter to end the contraction.