2. Chapter 7
Movements

3. Outline Movement basics Complex movement Adaptive movement
Movement disorders
Language from movement

4. Movement basics Motor homonculus in motor cortex
Which areas are given the most real estate?

5. Movement basics Corticospinal tracts The spinal cord
Lateral corticospinal tract
Anterior corticospinal tract
The spinal cord
Transit system for motor neural signals
Reflex responses

6. Movement basics: Reflex arc

7. Movement basics: Muscle types
During gardening, the cardiac and smooth muscles are under involuntary control as they regulate heart rate and facilitate the digestion of breakfast, respectively, whereas the skeletal muscles in the arm are voluntarily moved in different directions as plants are pruned and new seeds are planted

8. Movement basics: Neuromuscular junction
(a) Axons of α motor neurons in the spinal cord extend to the muscle fiber. (b) Neurotransmitter molecules are released from the synaptic vesicles, travel across the synaptic cleft, and activate specific receptors on the postsynaptic membrane (motor end plate).

9. Complex Movement
Movement requires memory, strength, sensory feedback, and coordination across brain regions

10. Complex Movement Super advanced robot vs. a child
(a) the most advanced robot can pour a liquid into a glass. (b) Even children can perform far more intricate movements, like quickly stacking cups.

11. Complex Movement: Cortex
cortical areas that contribute to the initiation and successful execution of movement necessary for the completion of complex tasks

12. Complex Movement: Learning
Brain areas recruited when a person begins to learn a task involving skilled movements.

13. Complex Movement: Basal ganglia
Interconnected nuclei that surround the thalamus
Involved in:
Movement
Habit formation
Attention
Communicates as needed with cerebral cortex

14. Complex Movement: Basal ganglia

15. Complex Movement: Cerebellum
Movement coordination, balance, and muscle tone
10% of the brain’s total volume
4x more neurons than the cortex

16. Complex Movement: Cerebellum

17. Adaptive movement Optimal actions minimize cost and maximize reward.
Predict how much effort is needed before lifting a box

18. Adaptive movement Many species can do complex movements
What are some possible functions for complex movements?

19. Adaptive movement: Athletics
Novice and expert golfers exhibit different patterns of brain activity when preparing to make a shot.
Becoming an expert usually means automating behavior (less prefrontal cortex)

20. Adaptive movement: Athletics

21. Adaptive movement: Athletics
What happens when athletes “overthink” automatic behaviors?
Is “icing the kicker” effective?

22. Adaptive movement: Exercise
Exercise may help your brain stave off effects of again
Why might exercise be more important now than a few hundred (or thousand) years ago?

23. Adaptive movement: Exercise

24. Movement Disorders Parkinson’s disease Spinal cord injury
Add Title here
Parkinson’s disease
Spinal cord injury

25. Movement Disorders: Parkinson’s
Compromised substantia nigra

26. Movement Disorders: Parkinson’s
(a) The patient remains awake during the surgery. (b) In this operation, doctors implant electrodes into the targeted brain areas and secure the associated battery-powered stimulator in the upper chest area.

27. Movement Disorders: Spinal cord injury
2.5 million worldwide
Severe impact on quality of life
CNS neurons don’t regrow
(a) The patient remains awake during the surgery. (b) In this operation, doctors implant electrodes into the targeted brain areas and secure the associated battery-powered stimulator in the upper chest area.

28. Movement Disorders: Spinal cord injury
(a) Cole Sydnor accepting an award for his lacrosse team at Atlee High School in Virginia. (b) During his junior year, following a diving accident, Cole suffered a spinal cord injury that le him with quadriplegia. Here, he assists his coach from the sidelines.

29. Movement Disorders: Spinal cord injury
Animal models of spinal cord injury are used to develop therapies that may hold promise for human spinal cord injuries.
Following spinal injury, a multifaceted rehabilitation approach consisting of electrical stimulation, neurochemical treatments, and training in a robotic harness has yielded promising results.

30. Language as movement Protosigns and protolanguage
Similar gestures across some primates

31. Language as movement Mirror theory of speech Motor theory of speech
Genetics also play a role (genes implicated in dyslexis)
Mirror system hypothesis of language suggests that the primate mirror system involved in grasping responses eventually evolved into critical components that prepared the human brain for language
Motor theory of speech perception suggests that speech is perceived as an extension of gestures generated by individuals articulating communicative sounds.

32. Language as movement
Where did we get the sounds used in our language from?
From nature?
Changizi has proposed that three basic types of sounds capture physical interactions in nature. hits, slides, and rings

33. Language as movement: Cortex
Large language network.
Much early knowledge about language in the brain came from patients with lesions in particular areas

34. Language as movement: Cortex
Language is primarily left-lateralized
Individuals with damage to left hemisphere show some plasticity
Better plasticity for younger people