Lecture 11 - Voluntary Movements and the Hierarchical control of Motor behaviour Flashcards

1
Q

What kind of reflexes do muscle receptors produce?

A

Stretch reflexes

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2
Q

What kind of reflexes do cutaneous receptors produce?

A

Withdrawal reflexes

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3
Q

What can studying spinal reflexes diagnose?

A

Integrity of afferent and efferent pathways

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4
Q

What is needed for voluntary movements?

A
  • Spinal cord

- Brainstem

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5
Q

How do voluntary movements improve?

A
  • With practice

- You learn to anticipate and correct for environmental obstacles

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6
Q

What is pychophysics?

A

An area of psychology that uses physics to explore the relationships between intended actions and the actual outcomes

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7
Q

What are the three laws of voluntary movement? [3]

A
  • Motor Equivalence
  • Processing Time scales with complexity
  • Speed/Accuracy trade off
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8
Q

What is motor equivalence?

A

The brain represents the outcome of motor actions independently of the specific effectors used

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9
Q

What is an example of motor equivalence?

A
  • People developing their own handwriting styles

- Their handwriting will be the same if they use their feet or hands

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10
Q

How are all movements stored?

A
  • In an abstract format

- Called movement primitives

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11
Q

How are complex actions such as writing achieved?

A

Using the stored sets if movement primitives

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12
Q

How does the processing time scales with complexity rule work?

A

The time is takes to respond to a stimulus depends on the amount of information that needs to be processed to accomplish a task

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13
Q

What is relationship between number of possible choices and the time it takes to accomplish a task?

A

More choices = More time taken

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14
Q

What does the Speed/Accuracy trade off mean?

A
  • To make accurate movements it takes time

- To make fast movements you lose accuracy

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15
Q

Why are faster movements less accurate than sower ones?

A
  • Less time for feedback corrections
  • More is fed-forward control
  • More force is required to stop movement (larger margin for errors)
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16
Q

How are motor systems organised?

A
  • In a hierarchy

- Sensory information is processed in different systems that operate in parallel

17
Q

What is the lowest level of the motor system hierarchy?

A

The spinal cord

18
Q

True or False? Spinal relfexes can not happen is the cord is disconnected from the brain.

A
  • False

- Spinal reflexes can still happen

19
Q

What comes after the spinal cord in the motor system hierarchy?

A

The brainstem

20
Q

What input does the brainstem receive?

A
  • Cerebrum

- Subcortical nuclei

21
Q

What two descending control systems start in the brainstem? [2]

A
  • Medial descending system

- Lateral descending system

22
Q

What does the Medial descending system deal with?

A

Posture

23
Q

What does the Lateral descending system deal with?

A

Goal directed movements

24
Q

What is the highest level of the motor system hierarchy?

A

The cerebral cortex

25
Q

How does the cerebral cortex control voluntary movement?

A
  • Direct connections to the spinal cord

- Connections to the brainstem, then to the spinal cord

26
Q

What is the role of the cerebellum and basal ganglia?

A

Regulating the planning and execution of movement

27
Q

What is the main role of the cerebellum?

A

Improving accuracy of movements

28
Q

How does the cerebellum improve the accuracy of movements?

A

Comparing descending motor commands with information about the action

29
Q

What is the main role of the basal ganglia?

A

Motor planning

30
Q

What does damage to basal ganglia result in?

A
  • Loss of spontaneous movements
  • Abnormal involuntary movements
  • Disturbances in posture
31
Q

What circuits do the spinal cord mediate?

A
  • Reflexes

- Rhythmic patterns

32
Q

What is the Final common pathway in the spinal cord?

A

Motor neurons

33
Q

What are motor nuclei?

A

A cluster of motor neurons that innervate individual muscles

34
Q

What rule does the position of motor nuclei in the spinal cord follow?

A

Proximal-distal rule