PSY 3126 Lecture Notes - Superior Colliculus, Reticular Formation, Visual Cortex
Document Summary
Axons from the brain descend through the spinal cord along two major groups of pathways (see fig. One is the lateral column of the spinal cord: the lateral pathways are involved in voluntary movement of the distal musculature and are under direct cortical control. The other is the ventromedial column: the ventromedial pathways are involved in the control of posture and locomotion and are under brain stem control. The most important component of this pathway is the corticospinal tract (see fig. Originating in the neocortex, it is the longest and one of the cns tracts. Two-thirds of the axons in the tract originate in areas 4 and 6 and is called the motor cortex. The remaining axons derive from the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobe to regulate the flow of somatosensory information to the brain. A much smaller component of the lateral pathways is the rubrospinal tract, which orginates in the red nucleus of the midbrain (see fig.