1. ♥SLIDE #1 - INTRODUCTION:
Good Morning (Afternoon)!
My name is __________ and I am a Neuroscience student (or you can say you study Neuroscience – or you are a Neuroscientist) at Johns Hopkins University.
Question: Does anyone know or can anyone guess what a neuroscience is (or what a Neuroscientist studies)?
Let’s look at our little friend up here.
Question: Do you know what this is a picture of?
This is a cartoon of a brain. This is a brain that is having fun – because this little brain is skateboarding.
Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system - which includes your brain. If you study the nervous system you are a Neuroscientist.
(Next, tells the students why you are visiting them. I usually say something like this…..)
I am here because I LOVE NEUROSCIENCE and I wanted to share some things I know about the nervous system with you.

2. What is your nervous system?
♥SLIDE #2: NERVOUS SYSTEM
Question: What is the nervous system?
It is your brain, your spinal cord, and all of your nerves.
Here is a drawing of what your nervous system would look like if we removed all of your skin, muscles, bones and organs.
Your nervous system is connected to every part of your body. It is what makes your body work.
There is so much to know about the nervous system…..

3. Brain Olympics: YOUR MOTOR SYSTEMS ♥SLIDE #3: TODAY’S TALK
Today I am going to tell you about how your brain helps you to move around.
I have titled my presentation, “BRAIN OLYMPICS: YOUR MOTOR SYSTEMS”.
Question: Does any one know what your motor system is?
It is the parts of your nervous system that helps you to move around.
YOUR MOTOR SYSTEMS

4. Our brain controls our movements.
♥SLIDE #4: MOVEMENTS
Our nervous system controls all our movements.
When you walk, run, dance, sing, talk, write, jump, any kind of movement – your nervous system is busy working.

5. Most of our behaviors involve moving.
What are some things
that we do that
do not involving moving?
♥SLIDE #5: BEHAVIORS
Question: Can anyone think of any behaviors that do not involve movements?
There are some, like thinking. Feeling our emotions, like happiness, love, don’t involve movements – although smiling, and hugging – 2 things that we do when we are feeling happy or love do involve moving.
Almost everything that we do involves moving, that means that the parts of our nervous systems that controls our movements is very busy.

6. How do we move? Brain Muscles talks talk ♥SLIDE #6: HOW IT WORKS
How does our nervous system control moving?
Well, quite simply our brains “talk” to our muscles and our muscles “talk” to our brains.
Brain
Muscles

7. Your brain tells your muscles to contract.
♥SLIDE #7: MUSCLES CONTRACT
More specifically, your brain tells your muscles to contract.
You may or may not know this, but most of your muscles are attached to bones at each end. (Some muscles that aren’t attached at both ends are the muscles in your stomach and the muscles that control your eye movements.)
When your muscles contract, it moves your bones.
When muscles contract your body moves.

8. The part of the brain that makes us move is our motor cortex.
♥SLIDE #8: MOTOR CORTEX
When you look at a brain (or a drawing of the brain) you see all the bumpy parts, this is known as the cortex.
The part of your brain that talks to your muscles is the motor cortex.
This is located in a part of your brain called the frontal lobe, which is kind of in front of our ears.
The motor cortex is cool, because it has a map of your body on it.
Frontal Lobe

9. The map of the motor cortex is known as the motor homunculus.
♥SLIDE #9: MOTOR HOMUNCULUS
The map is known as a motor homunculus.
If I were to open up you head and start poking around in your brain, if I touch the part of the motor cortex that controlled your leg….your leg would move.
Question: What do you notice about this little motor homunculus that is a little different?
Look at the hands, look at the mouth, look at the tongue.
They are HUGE!!!
Question: Why do you think they are so big?
It is because of all the moving that your hands, mouth and tongue do.
There is a bigger part of your motor cortex that is needed to “talk” to the muscles in your hands, mouth and tongue.
The bigger the area, the more moving a part of your body can do.

10. Information from the motor cortex goes to the spinal cord and to the muscles.
♥SLIDE #10: HOW IT WORKS
Cells in your motor cortex send information down to your spinal cord, which is in your back.
The cells in the spinal cord then talk to the muscles.
So your brain uses your spinal cord to make the muscles contract.

11. This pathway is known as the pyramidal system.
♥SLIDE #11: PYRAMIDAL SYSTEM
The motor cortex and spinal cord together make up the motor system known as the pyramidal system.
I am not exactly sure why it is called the pyramidal system. Maybe because a small piece of the nervous system at the top – in the brain – controls all the muscles of our body.
When the pyramidal system is working, there are movements.
Stimulation of the pyramidal system causes movements.

12. The right side of our brain moves the left side of our body and vice versa.
♥SLIDE #12: CONTROL OF MOVEMENT
Now, you may have noticed that the information from the motor cortex crosses over in an area of our brain called the brainstem, before it gets to the spinal cord.
Because of this crossing, the right side of your motor cortex controls the left side of your body and the left side of your motor cortex controls the right side of your body.
So…if I opened your head up again and touched the right motor cortex where your leg was….your left leg would move.

13. Our muscles talk to our brain…
♥SLIDE #13: RECIPROCAL INFORMATION
Now, remember I said that your brain talks to your muscles AND that your muscles talk to your brain.
DEMO: Where is it?
I need a volunteer….
I am going to have my volunteer close their eyes, and I am going to move their arm.
Then, I am going to have them tell me where their arm is.
You know where your arm is even without looking at it because your muscles send information to your brain.
I what all of you to close your eyes and touch your finger to your nose.
See you can all do this because your muscles send information to your brain.
Brain
Muscles
…to tell us what they are doing.

14. Our pyramidal system has extra help to make us move...
♥SLIDE #14: HELPING HANDS
Our pyramidal system has help to make us move…
We now know that if we want to move our right arm, the left side of our motor cortex sends information talks to the right side of our spinal cord, which tells muscles of our right arm to contract.
But, if I were moving our forearm towards our face – we need to give our arm more information.
If all our brain told the muscles in the arm to do is contract….we could easily end up hitting ourselves in the face!!!
DEMO: The Face Slap (Ouch!!!)
In order to move our forearm so that our hand doesn’t end up slapping our faces our pyramidal system has help from parts of the brain known as the extrapyramidal system.
Named because it is extra parts of the brain not the motor cortex or spinal cord, that plays a role in moving our bodies.
…it is called the extrapyramidal system.

15. Our extrapyramidal system controls… …if and how… we are going to move.
…how fast
….how far
and
…. the direction we move.
♥SLIDE #15: EXTRAPYRAMIDAL SYSTEM
The extrapyramidal system controls if we are going to move and how we are going to move.
The extrapyramidal system also controls how fast we move, how far we move, and in what direction we move.
There are 2 parts of the extrapyramidal system: the basal ganglia and the cerebellum.

16. Extrapyramidal system
Basal Ganglia
Cerebellum

17. Our extrapyramidal system consists of the basal ganglia.
♥SLIDE #16: BASAL GANGLIA
The basal ganglia sits underneath the cortex (remember the bumpy part of your brain).
This part of your brain sends information to your motor cortex – it does not send information to your spinal cord.
So…if I opened up your head and touched your basal ganglia – you would not move.

18. Our basal ganglia helps to plan our movements.
Touch your nose…..
Finger or tongue?
♥SLIDE #17: PLANNING
The basal ganglia help to plan your movements – the “if” and “how” we move.
If I say touch your nose….your basal ganglia helps plan out the movement.
(You can describe all of the little movements involved in that one movement.)
Question: Did you use your finger or your tongue?
 You probably touched your nose with your finger.
 But look…these guys are touching there noses too!!!
 Question: Why did you use your finger and not your tongue?
 That is because your basal ganglia was helping your motor cortex.
 Your basal ganglia “knows” that when someone says “touch something” you usually use your fingers and hands. Not your tongue or your toes.
 The basal ganglia gets information from lots of other parts of your brain - like your visual system, your auditory system, and your memory systems - and it does the “planning” without you even knowing it.

19. Our extrapyramidal system also consists of the cerebellum.
♥SLIDE #18: CEREBELLUM
The cerebellum, is another part of your extrapyramidal system.
It sits in the back part of your brain.
It is actually a pretty big part of your nervous system.

20. Our cerebellum control how far, how fast, and the direction we move.
♥SLIDE #19: FUNCTION
Our cerebellum control how fast, how far, and in what direction we move.
DEMO: Drinking
Without our cerebellum, we could never accurately reach for a cup of water – smoothly bring it to our mouths without spilling it – and then drink it.
(Here you can be creative. Pretend to reach for cup – bring it to your mouth – drink. Obviously you want to “ham” it up and make some mistakes involving rate, range and direction of the movement.)

21. Practice makes perfect...
♥SLIDE #20: MOTOR LEARNING
Question: Did you ever hear the phrase…practice makes perfect? What are some of the things you practice?
Well, when you practice a movement it is your extrapyramidal system that is “learning”.
When you do a movement over and over, that movement becomes almost automatic.
...because of your extrapyramidal system.

22. Our brain also needs information about the world to produce movments.
♥SLIDE #21: OTHER MOTOR AREAS
Our brain also needs other information about the world to produce movements.
So there are other brain areas that help our pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems. Here are some other areas involved, the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor cortex.

23. Our brain and muscles talk very fast – and we can measure how fast.
Reaction time
talks
talk
Brain
Muscles

24. Reaction time measures how fast our motor pathway works.
On your mark….
Get set…..
Go!!!
♥SLIDE #22: REACTION TIME
So…your brain (or more specifically your pyramidal and extrapyramidal motor systems) gets information from the world, including your muscles, and it talks to your muscles…producing movements.
It does this extremely fast.
In fact the time it takes for all of this “talking” to occur is known as the reaction time.
DEMO: Reaction Time
Pair student up with rulers.
Have one of the students hold the ruler.
Have the other student put their fingers around the bottom of the ruler (pinching – without touching it).
Say “On your mark, get set, GO!!!” and have the student holding the ruler let go of the ruler.
Look at where the ruler was caught. Repeat.
Have students switch positions
See how fast your motor systems work!!! See how practicing can improve the reaction time of the motor systems!!!
That is your pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems in action.

25. Brain Olympics: YOUR MOTOR SYSTEMS ♥SLIDE 23: CONCLUSION
Well, that is all I wanted to tell you today about your motor systems.
Your pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems work together to help you move and because most of the things that you do involve moving – your motor systems are very busy systems indeed!!!
I have enjoyed talking to you today, and I hope that you have enjoyed hearing about the neat things that your nervous systems can do.
YOUR MOTOR SYSTEMS