Week 1: Chapter 9 - Organization of the motor system

Question 1

What is the role of the visual system in object grasping?

Answer 1

It identifies the part of the object to be grasped and relays the information to corticomotor regions.

Question 2

How does the sensory cortex contribute to grasping?

Answer 2

It receives signals from the fingers via the spinal cord and informs the motor cortex that the object is held.

Question 3

What does the basal ganglia do during movement?

Answer 3

It helps produce the appropriate amount of force.

Question 4

What role does the cerebellum play in movement?

Answer 4

It regulates timing and corrects errors as movement occurs.

Question 5

What are the four cortical regions responsible for skilled movements?

Answer 5

Posterior sensory cortex, prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and primary motor cortex.

Question 6

Where are movement goals specified in the neocortex?

Answer 6

In the posterior sensory cortex.

Question 7

What is the function of the premotor cortex?

Answer 7

Recognizes movements and selects appropriate actions.

Question 8

What did E. Roland’s blood flow experiment show?

Answer 8

Only the brain regions involved in movement show increased blood flow.

Question 9

How did Penfield identify motor areas?

Answer 9

Using electrical stimulation on conscious patients to map motor responses.

Question 10

What is the motor homunculus?

Answer 10

A distorted body map in the motor cortex with large areas for hands, lips, and tongue.

Question 11

What did Michael Graziano find using stimulation in monkeys?

Answer 11

Ethological categories of movement reflecting everyday actions.

Question 12

What are the three types of organization in motor maps?

Answer 12

Body part, spatial location, and function.

Question 13

Which movements are in the dorsal premotor cortex?

Answer 13

Whole-body movements.

Question 14

What is the role of the ventral parietal cortex?

Answer 14

Encodes hand and mouth movements.

Question 15

What does the dual visual-parietal-motor pathway do?

Answer 15

Enables grasping by integrating visual and somatosensory data.

Question 16

What does the parietal cortex identify during grasping?

Answer 16

Which body part will contact the object.

Question 17

What is the human movement lexicon?

Answer 17

A neural repertoire of species-typical movement patterns.

Question 18

How is the pincer grip evidence of a movement lexicon?

Answer 18

It appears early in infants and is disrupted by small motor cortex lesions.

Question 19

What role does the premotor cortex play in movement sequences?

Answer 19

It organizes whole-body and complex movements.

Question 20

What did Edward Evarts’ monkey experiments reveal?

Answer 20

Motor cortex neurons plan, initiate, and adjust movement force.

Question 21

What did Georgopoulos discover about movement direction?

Answer 21

Neurons have preferred directions and collectively encode movement.

Question 22

What are mirror neurons?

Answer 22

Neurons that fire during both action execution and observation.

Question 23

Where is the monkey mirror neuron system located?

Answer 23

Ventral premotor, motor, and ventral parietal cortex.

Question 24

How does the human mirror system differ?

Answer 24

Includes a distributed system and Broca’s area for language.

Question 25

What cognitive functions are linked to mirror neurons?

Answer 25

Movement imagery, BCIs, empathy, and action understanding.

Question 26

What disorders may be linked to mirror neuron dysfunction?

Answer 26

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Question 27

How many brainstem pathways project to the spinal cord?

Answer 27

About 26 distinct pathways.

Question 28

What types of movements are typically organized by the brainstem?

Answer 28

Whole-body movements.

Question 29

What did Walter R. Hess demonstrate?

Answer 29

Stimulating brainstem sites in cats elicited innate behaviors like jumping, stalking, or grooming.

Question 30

What essential behaviors are coordinated by the brainstem?

Answer 30

Eating, drinking, sexual activity, posture, walking, swimming, and grooming.

Question 31

What do sequential grooming behaviors in rats reveal?

Answer 31

A structured motor program largely controlled by the brainstem.

Question 32

What are the two primary input sources to the basal ganglia?

Answer 32

Neocortex/limbic cortex and substantia nigra (via nigrostriatal pathway).

Question 33

What are hyperkinetic symptoms?

Answer 33

Exaggerated, involuntary movements due to damage to the caudate putamen.

Question 34

Which disorders exhibit hyperkinetic symptoms?

Answer 34

Huntington’s disease and Tourette’s syndrome.

Question 35

What are hypokinetic symptoms?

Answer 35

Difficulty initiating movements, as seen in Parkinson’s disease.

Question 36

What causes Parkinson’s disease?

Answer 36

Loss of dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra.

Question 37

What structure acts as a movement volume control?

Answer 37

The internal part of the globus pallidus (GPi).

Question 38

What does high inhibitory pathway activity in the GPi cause?

Answer 38

Less inhibition of the thalamus → more excitation of the cortex → more movement.

Question 39

What does high excitatory pathway activity in the GPi cause?

Answer 39

Strong inhibition of the thalamus → less excitation of the cortex → less movement.

Question 40

What are two treatments for Parkinson’s disease targeting the GPi?

Answer 40

Surgical lesioning and deep brain stimulation (DBS).

Question 41

Where is the cerebellum located?

Answer 41

Above the brainstem and below the cerebral cortex.

Question 42

What are the functional divisions of the cerebellum?

Answer 42

Flocculus, medial areas, and lateral areas.

Question 43

What does the flocculus control?

Answer 43

Balance and eye movements via vestibular projections.

Question 44

What happens with midline cerebellar damage?

Answer 44

Impaired balance, posture, walking, and eye movements.

Question 45

What happens with lateral cerebellar damage?

Answer 45

Impaired coordination of limbs, hands, and fingers.

Question 46

What are the two main functions of the cerebellum?

Answer 46

Movement timing and movement accuracy.

Question 47

What did the Thach dart-throwing experiment show?

Answer 47

Cerebellum is essential for error correction in motor learning.

Question 48

What is the role of the inferior olivary nucleus?

Answer 48

Sends corrective feedback signals to the motor cortex.

Question 49

What coordination issue occurs with cerebellar damage?

Answer 49

Difficulty synchronizing multiple movements into smooth sequences.