PSY 356 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Spasticity, Premotor Cortex, Primary Motor Cortex

• School: Stony Brook University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 356
• Professor: Brenda Anderson

Document Summary

Motor systems: nervous system consists of loops, sensory input processing motor output, simplest is reflex, then loops that involve brain stem structures, then loops that involve cortex. So motor neuron + muscle fibers = motor unit. It"s a crossed pathway: upper motor neurons in the primary motor cortex (precentral gyrus) send an axon downward to cross over at the pyramidal decussation. Control of voluntary movement: there are other areas involved in control of voluntary movement including, basal ganglia, cerebellum, association cortex, thalamus, there are more hierarchical and parallel pathways. Multiple feedback loops involve the cortex, brainstem, cerebellum, basal ganglia and thalamus. Motor output pathways (medial and lateral motor systems) arise/start from the cortex and from the brain stem. Cerebellum and basal ganglia are important feed back loops they project back to the cortex through the thalamus, and do not project to lower motor neurons.