Motor Circuits Flashcards
Muscles come in pairs: when one contracts, the other ____.
Stretches
Muscle contraction is (active/passive), whereas muscle stretching is (active/passive). What does “passive” mean in this context?
Active
Passive (cannot be directly activated by neurons)
The lower motor neurons are directly involved in receiving information from the ____ ____ and sending information to ____.
Spinal cord
Muscles
The upper motor neurons send information from the ___ ___ and the ___ down to ____ motor circuits.
Motor cortex
Brainstem
Lower
Upper motor neurons can directly synapse on ___ ___ neurons, but usually synapse on ___ ___ neurons.
Lower motor
Local circuit
Where are the local circuit neurons located?
Spinal cord
Local circuit neurons synapse on ____ ____ neurons.
Lower motor
What are 3 types of sensory information that can be passed to the local circuit neurons? Which one comes directly from the muscles?
Proprioceptive (comes directly from muscles)
Pain
Touch
The upper motor neurons are also called the ____ systems.
Descending
The ___ ___ and the ____ send information that combines with the descending systems to regulate movement.
Basal ganglia
Cerebellum
Each muscle has (one/multiple) neuron(s) that control(s) it.
Multiple
Each muscle is made up of multiple ____ ____. Bigger muscles require (more/less/the same) number of these as smaller muscles.
Muscle fibers
More
Each motor neuron controls a different set of ___ ____.
Muscle fibers
What is a motor neuron pool?
All of the neurons that innervate a particular muscle
(Bigger/smaller) muscles and muscles with (low/high) dexterity have more motor neurons.
Bigger
High
Motor neurons have their cell bodies in the ___ ___ of the ___ ____.
Ventral horn
Spinal cord
Motor neurons synapse in the (ipsilateral/contralateral) spinal cord.
Ipsilateral
Muscles’ motor neurons have their cell bodies in (one/multiple) segments in the spinal cord. What type of muscles don’t have their motor neurons’ cell bodies in the spinal cord at all?
Multiple
Eye
The cell bodies of the proximal limb muscles (closer to the body) are located (medially/laterally) in the ventral horn to the cell bodies of the distal limb muscles (further away from the body).
Medially
What is a motor unit?
All of the muscle fibers innervated by the same motor neuron
Each motor neuron innervates (1/ 1 or more) muscle fibers.
1 or more
In general, the larger the motor unit, the (smaller/larger) the motor neuron, the (less/more) muscles contract, and the (lesser/greater) the force generated.
Larger
More
Greater
In muscle physiology, what is considered to be the smallest unit of force?
Motor unit
The greater the motor unit, the (lesser/greater) the force generated.
Greater