L8 Voluntary Actions

How does the CNS plans and executes complex movements?

Central command

Describe the central command

The direct of indirect projections from the primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, and supplementary motor area to the spinal cord.

Projections of the spinal cord occur where?

Corticospinal tract

How do we accomplish accurate movements?

Sensorimotor transformations

How do we accomplish these sensorimotor transformations?

Estimating locations for moving

The CNS determines the locations of what for moving

end effector and target

The CNS uses the difference vector to develop what?

A motor plan

What is a motor plan?

Determines the joint torques or muscle activities that are necessary to achieve the desired joint trajectories.

How do we know that voluntary motor commands derive form sensorimotor transformations?

Motor equivalence

Describe motor equivalence?

The ability of different motor systems to achieve the same behavior

What is kinetics

muscle activity and force

What are kinematics

Spatiotemporal form of movement- direction, amplitude, speed

How does the CNS learn to repeat movements with accuracy?

Efference copy

Describe efference copy

A copy of the central command is returned to cerebellum and other brain centers and gets compared with incoming sensory information

Why does the efference copy occur?

So we can determine between the intended and actual performance of a movement.

Why cant people tickle themselves?

We generate the motor plan and have an expectation.

Why is efference copy important?

To learn