Kinesiology 1080A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Alpha Motor Neuron, Mirror Neuron, Frontal Lobe

• School: Western University
• Department: Kinesiology
• Course: Kinesiology 1080A/B
• Professor: Matthew Heath

Document Summary

Mirror neurons in the frontal lobe allow us to perform actions via observation (monkey see monkey do) Provide a basis for why humans get over excited about sports: also how we learn to move (i. e. , learning to walk as a child) Rizzolatti: recorded monkey"s neural activity, some neuron was active when it performs a task as well as when it observed a human perform a task. Might be a special class of neurons that is active when you observe and when you move: serves as a precursor for humans" ability to speak (language and grammar) Thought that some of the mirror neurons reside n the sma when you have the opportunity to think about performing a movement, you get activity in the sma neurons. Premotor area (pma: send fewer outputs to spinal cord than sma. Doesn"t have direct control over alpha motor neurons and movement in general: strong connections with reticular formation, red nuclei, and (indirectly) to cerebellum.