Motor Learning - Rocky Mountain College

Motor Learning Areas of the Brain Involved in movement PEH 315 Motor Learning Areas of the Brain By recording the activity of neurons in different brain regions and by studying the effects of lesions in various brain sites, it has been demonstrated that there are important functional

distinctions among brain centers. In the domain of motor control, some centers are involved in relatively low-level aspects of the control of movement and posture, such as the direction and force of single limb movement, whereas others are involved in higher-level aspects, such as planning extended sequences of actions. PEH 315 Motor Learning Areas of the Brain

Cerebellum Basal Ganglia Motor Cortex Pre-motor Cortex Supplementary Motor Cortex

Parietal Cortex PEH 315 Motor Learning Cerebellum Regulation of Muscle Tone input from muscle spindles, vision, hearing, touch and balance. Damage = flaccid tone Coordination ataxia, dysarthria, nystagmus, Sequencing - palm up, palm down

Timing - agonistic and antagonistic muscle firings Learning vestibular occular reflex PEH 315 Motor Learning Basal Ganglia Contributes to activation & retrieval of movement plans Scale the amplitude of movements

Movement problems associated with area Huntingdons Disease clumsiness, uncontrollable movements, dementia Parkinsons Disease shuffling gait, resting tremors, initiation of movements PEH 315 Motor Learning Premotor Cortex Proximal muscles Role in orienting body

Readying postural for forthcoming movements Help select movement trajectories PEH 315 Motor Learning Motor Cortex Localization of Brain function Trigger center rather than planning Force and direction Long-loop Reflexes

PEH 315 Motor Learning Pre-motor cortex Proximal muscles trunk & shoulders Orienting the body and readying the postural muscles for forthcoming movements Selected movement trajectories PEH 315 Motor Learning

Supplementary MC Planning & Production of Complex sequences of movement bimanual coordination Blood flow to SMC even when imagined Activity seen 1 sec before movement begins Suggests planning PEH 315 Motor Learning

Parietal Cortex Spatial attention drawing diagrams (Spatial Facility) Code spatially relevant behavioral intentions Apraxia Ideational - pantomine Ideomotor - imitate PEH 315 Motor Learning