Psychology 2220A/B Lecture 17: Lecture 17 - Motor Control

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2220A/B
• Professor: Jody Culham

Document Summary

Motor pathway: output stage of movements come through spinal cord receiving output from motor cortex. Extension of elbow - signals for triceps not biceps. Exion - signals for biceps not triceps. Motoneurons: if this neuron is activated, the axon goes all the way down the muscle and releases the acetylcholine into the junction. Neuromuscular junction: kind of like a synapse but its where neuron binds to muscle membrane. Motor end plate contains high concentrations of ach. Postsynaptic membrane is modi ed into a motor end plate. Re exes: have proprioceptive neurons from muscle to spinal cords. Can happen even without of a brain. For things like pain & heat, have spinal signals instead of sending input to brain (faster) Weight in hand, arm goes down, receptors send signal to spinal cord to release bicep and arm goes back up. Corticospinal (pyramidal) tract: primary motor cortex down to spinal cord. When take cross section of midbrain - have pyramid structures.