PSYC 271 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Motor System, Parietal Lobe, White Matter

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 271
• Professor: Amanda Maracle

Document Summary

The sensorimotor system is characterized by three principles: hierarchically organized: same as perceptual systems, except in reverse. In addition to being top-down organized, the sensorimotor system has a parallel structure (signals flow between levels over multiple paths). Parallel processing happens at each level levels speak to each other as well as to other levels. Many responses to sensory feedback are controlled unconsciously by lower levels or the sensorimotor hierarchy without involvement of higher levels. The sensorimotor system constantly monitors the external world and integrates information about external forces as well as the consequences of its own actions. Ballistic movements = brief, all-or-none high speed movements. The only movements that are not guided by sensory feedback. Tasks become automatic (routine) and are taken over by lower levels of organization following practice. Learning to drive a car, playing the piano. Taking common behaviours and making them routine makes our lives way easier.