Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T16:16:42.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Do cortical and basal ganglionic motor areas use “motor programs” to control movement?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2009

G. E. Alexander
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322
M. R. Delong
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322
M. D. Crutcher
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322
Paul Cordo
Affiliation:
Robert S. Dow Neurological Center, Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center, Portland, Oregon
Stevan Harnad
Affiliation:
Princeton University, New Jersey
Get access

Summary

Abstract: Prevailing engineering-inspired theories of motor control based on sequential/algorithmic or motor-programming models are difficult to reconcile with what is known about the anatomy and physiology of the motor areas. This is partly because of certain problems with the theories themselves and partly because of features of the cortical and basal ganglionic motor circuits that seem illsuited for most engineering analyses of motor control. Recent developments in computational neuroscience offer more realistic, that is, connectionist, models of motor processing. The distributed, highly parallel, and nonalgorithmic processes in these models are inherently self-organizing and hence more plausible biologically than their more traditional algorithmic or motor-programming counterparts. The newer models also have the potential to explain some of the unique features of natural, brain-based motor behavior and to avoid some of the computational dilemmas associated with engineering approaches.

Type
Chapter
Information
Movement Control , pp. 54 - 63
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×