Final Exam - Motor Control Flashcards
To know every slide and ACE the Final!!
What are the categories of movement?
- Reflexive: Level of spinal cord: knee jerk
- Rhythmic: Walking, chewing, swallowing
- Voluntary: See the box, step over it
What are reflexes?
- Involuntary coordinated patterns of movement
- Consistent, assuming external stimuli are constant
- Can be modulated by descending cortical commands
What are rhythmic movements?
- Chewing, swallowing, walking
2. Patterns contained on brain stem and spinal cord and triggered by external stimuli
What is voluntary movement?
- Goal-directed
- Externally or internally triggered
- Modulated by feedback (corrects already-initiated movement) and feed-forward control (anticipates events: used to control posture and movement, eg. catch a ball)
What is motor psychophysics?
- Brain represents outcome, not individual movements or muscles.
- Reaction time depends on complexity of information processing
- Speed of movement inversely related to accuracy
What is the motor hierarchy of the brain?
- Premotor areas
- Primary Motor cortex: M1, BA 4
- Cerebellum and basal ganglia modulate (projects to planning areas and premotor)
What is the motor hierarchy of the brain stem?
- Medial motor system: proximal musculature (trunk and torso: posture)
- Lateral motor system: distal musculature (arms and legs: more lateral systems)
What is the motor hierarchy of the spinal cord?
- Circuitry for reflexes and rhythmic movement
2. Modulated by higher areas
Explain the spinal control of movement.
- Motor neuron cell bodies clustered in spinal column.
- Neurons that control proximal muscles located medially
- Proprioceptive information transmitted up and down to affect posture
Dorsal horn takes ________.
Information in
Ventral horn takes ________.
Information out
In the brain stem, medial pathways control what and consist of what tracts?
Medial pathways control posture: Vestibulospinal, reticulospinal, tectospinal tracts
In the brain stem, lateral pathways control what and consist of what tracts?
Lateral pathways control goal-directed movement: Rubrospinal and corticospinal (from primary motor cortex: fine detailed motor control movements) tracts
Corticospinal tract axons originate from where?
Corticospinal tract axons originate from BA 4, BA 6 (motor planning areas), and BA 3 (most anterior), 1, 2 (sensory areas)
Where does decussation occur for cortical control of movement?
Decussate at pyramids of medulla to form lateral corticospinal tract (75% of axons)
What % doesn’t decussate and descends _______ as the ________.
25% do not decussate and descend ipsilaterally as the ventral corticospinal tract
What is the lateral corticospinal tract responsible for?
Voluntary motor control (typing)
What is the ventral corticospinal tract responsible for?
Involved, but less important in voluntary movement (has info that remains ipsilateral)
What is a reflex?
- Automatically produced adaptive movement
- Can extend over wide range of muscles
- Can be adapted to achieve particular goal
How are reflexes modulated?
By descending commands
What is an example of how reflexes are adaptive?
When holding onto a cup and kneeling down, perturbation will occur to allow excitation and inhibition of muscles (reflexes) to keep the cup balanced and prevent spillage.
What are muscle spindles for?
Sensor for reflexes
- Detect stretch of muscle fibers
- Increase firing rate when fiber elongates
- Detect change in muscle length and steady state length
- More sensitive when performing unpredictable tasks
What are Golgi Tendon Organs for?
Sensor for reflexes
- Junction between muscle and tendon
- Stretching tendon compresses nerve endings, causing them to fire (information for proprioception)
What do gamma motor neurons do?
Strengthen or relax muscle spindles.
Where are rhythmic stepping movements generated?
In spinal cord
Is sensory input required for locomotion?
Not required, but does modulate stepping movements.
Are supraspinal structures necessary for stepping?
No
Spinal circuits can be activated by what?
Descending commands
What is stepping divided into?
Swing and stance phases
What generates a burst of activity in extensor and flexor muscles?
Isolated spinal cord
Pool of neurons controlling extensor muscles does what to neurons controlling flexor muscles?
Inhibits them
Where are central pattern generators for locomotion found at?
L6 in spinal cord
What are central pattern generators?
Network of neurons capable of generating regular patterns of activity without sensory input (spontaneous bursting activity).
Central pattern generators influence what and is modified by what?
- Walking, summing, respiration
2. Output modified based on sensory input and descending commands.
What does the pattern depend on?
Properties of component neurons and synapses as well as connection between neurons.
Pattern is regulated by?
- Mutual inhibition (one excited = one inhibited)
- Rate of recovery from inhibition
- Mutual excitation (one excited = other excited)
What is the sensory input to locomotion?
- Somatosensory input (tactile from feet)
- Vestibular input (equilibrium)
- Visual input (obstacles)
- Commonly divided into proprioceptors and exteroceptors.
Descending control of walking from visual cortex (pathway).
Visual cortex -> visual signals -> motor cortex -> visual guidance -> spinal locomotor system -> limb movement