Primary Motor Cortex and Somatosensory Cortex

These flashcards cover terminology and concepts related to the Primary Motor Cortex and Somatosensory Cortex, essential for understanding motor control and sensory processing.

Primary Motor Cortex (M1)

The region of the brain responsible for planning, controlling, and executing voluntary movements.

Somatosensory Cortex (S1)

The area of the brain that processes sensory input from various parts of the body.

Motor Homunculus

A visual representation of the body in the primary motor cortex, showing how much of the cortex is devoted to each body part.

Betz Cells

Large pyramidal neurons in the primary motor cortex that send signals down the corticospinal tract.

Population Vector

The combined activity of a group of neurons that encodes the direction of a movement.

Neuroprosthetics

Devices that can replace the functionality of a missing limb or other body part through interfacing with the nervous system.

Somatotopic Maps

Maps that show the relative areas of the brain that correspond to sensations or movements from different parts of the body.

Plasticity in S1

The ability of the somatosensory cortex to change and adapt based on experience, such as the effects of digit amputation.

Phantom Limb Sensations

Sensations that appear to originate from a limb that has been amputated, often due to reorganization in the somatosensory cortex.

Corticospinal Tract

A major neural pathway that conveys movement-related information from the motor cortex to the spinal cord.