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Motor Skills
A motor skill is a function that involves specific movements of the body's muscles to perform a certain task. These tasks could include walking, running, or riding a bike. In order to perform this skill, the body's nervous system, muscles, and brain have to all work together. The goal of motor skill is to optimize the ability to perform the skill at the rate of success, precision, and to reduce the energy consumption required for performance. Performance is an act of executing a motor skill or task. Continuous practice of a specific motor skill will result in a greatly improved performance, which leads to motor learning. Motor learning is a relatively permanent change in the ability to perform a skill as a result of continuous practice or experience. A fundamental movement skill is a developed ability to move the body in coordinated ways to achieve consistent performance at demanding physical tasks, such as found in sports, combat or personal locomotion, especially those unique ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motor System
The motor system is the set of central nervous system, central and peripheral nervous system, peripheral structures in the nervous system that support motor functions, i.e. movement. Peripheral structures may include skeletal muscles and Efferent nerve fiber#Motor nerve, neural connections with muscle tissues. Central structures include cerebral cortex, brainstem, spinal cord, pyramidal system including the upper motor neurons, extrapyramidal system, cerebellum, and the lower motor neurons in the brainstem and the spinal cord. The motor system is a biological system with close ties to the muscular system and the circulatory system. To achieve motor skill, the motor system must accommodate the working state of the muscles, whether hot or cold, stiff or loose, as well as physiological fatigue. Pyramidal motor system The pyramidal tracts, pyramidal motor system, also called the pyramidal tract or the corticospinal tract, start in the motor center of the cerebral cortex.Rizzolatti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myelination
Myelination, or myelinogenesis, is the formation and development of myelin sheaths in the nervous system, typically initiated in late prenatal neurodevelopment and continuing throughout postnatal development. The term ''myelinogenesis'' is also sometimes used to differentiate the very early stages of embryonic myelination. Myelin is formed by oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system and Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system. Myelination continues throughout the lifespan to support learning and memory via neural circuit plasticity as well as remyelination following injury. Successful myelination of axons increases action potential speed by enabling saltatory conduction, which is essential for timely signal conduction between spatially separate brain regions, as well as provides metabolic support to neurons. Stages Myelin is formed by oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system and Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system. Therefore, the first stage of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muscle Memory
Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, the brain creates a long-term muscle memory for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed with little to no conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems. Muscle memory is found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding bikes, driving motor vehicles, playing ball sports, typing on keyboards, entering PINs, playing musical instruments, poker, martial arts, swimming, dancing, and drawing. History The origins of research for the acquisition of motor skills stem from philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and Galen. After the break from tradition of the pre-1900s view of introspection, psychologists emphasized research ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerebellum
The cerebellum (: cerebella or cerebellums; Latin for 'little brain') is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as it or even larger. In humans, the cerebellum plays an important role in motor control and cognition, cognitive functions such as attention and language as well as emotion, emotional control such as regulating fear and pleasure responses, but its movement-related functions are the most solidly established. The human cerebellum does not initiate movement, but contributes to motor coordination, coordination, precision, and accurate timing: it receives input from sensory systems of the spinal cord and from other parts of the brain, and integrates these inputs to fine-tune motor activity. Cerebellar damage produces disorders in fine motor skill, fine movement, sense of balance, equilibrium, list of human positions, posture, and motor learning in humans. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Putamen
The putamen (; from Latin, meaning "nutshell") is a subcortical nucleus (neuroanatomy), nucleus with a rounded structure, in the basal ganglia nuclear group. It is located at the base of the forebrain and above the midbrain. The putamen and caudate nucleus together form the dorsal striatum. Through various pathways, the putamen is connected to the substantia nigra, the globus pallidus, the claustrum, and the thalamus, in addition to many regions of the cerebral cortex. A primary function of the putamen is to regulate movements at various stages such as in preparation and execution; and to influence various types of learning. It employs GABA, acetylcholine, and enkephalin to perform its functions. The putamen also plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. History The word "putamen" is from Latin, referring to that which "falls off in pruning", from "putare", meaning "to prune, to think, or to consider". Most MRI research was focused broadly on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Globus Pallidus
The globus pallidus (GP), also known as paleostriatum or dorsal pallidum, is a major component of the Cerebral cortex, subcortical basal ganglia in the brain. It consists of two adjacent segments, one external (or lateral), known in rodents simply as the globus pallidus, and one internal (or medial). It is part of the telencephalon, but retains close functional ties with the subthalamus in the diencephalon – both of which are part of the extrapyramidal motor system. The globus pallidus receives principal inputs from the striatum, and principal direct outputs to the thalamus and the substantia nigra. The latter is made up of similar neuronal elements, has similar afferents from the striatum, similar projections to the thalamus, and has a similar synapse, synaptology. Neither receives direct cortical afferents, and both receive substantial additional inputs from the intralaminar thalamic nuclei. Globus pallidus is Latin for "pale globe". Structure Pallidal nuclei are made up of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nucleus (neuroanatomy)
In neuroanatomy, a nucleus (: nuclei) is a cluster of neurons in the central nervous system, located deep within the cerebral hemispheres and brainstem. The neurons in one nucleus usually have roughly similar connections and functions. Nuclei are connected to other nuclei by tracts, the bundles (fascicles) of axons (nerve fibers) extending from the cell bodies. A nucleus is one of the two most common forms of nerve cell organization, the other being layered structures such as the cerebral cortex or cerebellar cortex. In anatomical sections, a nucleus shows up as a region of gray matter, often bordered by white matter. The vertebrate brain contains hundreds of distinguishable nuclei, varying widely in shape and size. A nucleus may itself have a complex internal structure, with multiple types of neurons arranged in clumps (subnuclei) or layers. The term "nucleus" is in some cases used rather loosely, to mean simply an identifiably distinct group of neurons, even if they are sprea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basal Ganglia
The basal ganglia (BG) or basal nuclei are a group of subcortical Nucleus (neuroanatomy), nuclei found in the brains of vertebrates. In humans and other primates, differences exist, primarily in the division of the globus pallidus into external and internal regions, and in the division of the striatum. Positioned at the base of the forebrain and the top of the midbrain, they have strong connections with the cerebral cortex, thalamus, brainstem and other brain areas. The basal ganglia are associated with a variety of functions, including regulating voluntary motor control, motor movements, procedural memory, procedural learning, habituation, habit formation, conditional learning, eye movements, cognition, and emotion. The main functional components of the basal ganglia include the striatum, consisting of both the dorsal striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) and the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercle), the globus pallidus, the ventral pallidum, the substa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Posterior Parietal Cortex
The posterior parietal cortex (the portion of parietal neocortex posterior to the primary somatosensory cortex) plays an important role in planned movements, spatial reasoning, and attention. Damage to the posterior parietal cortex can produce a variety of sensorimotor deficits, including deficits in the perception and memory of spatial relationships, inaccurate reaching and grasping, in the control of eye movement, and inattention. The two most striking consequences of PPC damage are apraxia and hemispatial neglect. Anatomy The posterior parietal cortex is located just behind the central sulcus, between the visual cortex, the caudal pole and the somatosensory cortex. The posterior parietal cortex receives input from the three sensory systems that play roles in the localization of the body and external objects in space: the visual system, the auditory system, and the somatosensory system. In turn, much of the output of the posterior parietal cortex goes to areas of frontal moto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Journal Of Neurology, Neurosurgery, And Psychiatry
The ''Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the BMJ Group. It covers research and reviews in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry. Its editor-in-chief is Karen L. Furie (Brown University). History The journal was established in 1920 by Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson as the ''Journal of Neurology and Psychopathology''. Wilson was the head of a nine-member editorial committee which, besides Wilson, consisted of Thomas Graham Brown, Carey Coombs, Henry Devine, Bernard Hart, Maurice Nicoll, Charles Stanford Read, Roy Mackenzie Stewart, and Charles Symonds. The journal was renamed ''Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry'' from 1938 to 1944, and then obtained its current title. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded, BIOSIS Previews, Index Medicus/MEDLINE/PubMed, Current Contents, Scopus, Embase, and CINAHL. According to the ''Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motor Homunculus
A cortical homunculus () is a distorted representation of the human body, based on a neurological "map" of the areas and portions of the human brain dedicated to processing motor functions, and/or sensory functions, for different parts of the body. Nerve fibresconducting somatosensory information from all over the bodyterminate in various areas of the parietal lobe in the cerebral cortex, forming a representational map of the body. Findings from the 2010s and early 2020s began to call for a revision of the traditional "homunculus" model and a new interpretation of the internal body map (likely less simplistic and graphic), and research is ongoing in this field. Types Motor homunculus A motor homunculus represents a map of brain areas dedicated to ''motor'' processing for different anatomical divisions of the body. The primary motor cortex is located in the precentral gyrus, and handles signals coming from the premotor area of the frontal lobes. Sensory homunculus A senso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premotor Cortex
The premotor cortex is an area of the motor cortex lying within the frontal lobe of the brain just anterior to the primary motor cortex. It occupies part of Brodmann's area 6. It has been studied mainly in primates, including monkeys and humans. The functions of the premotor cortex are diverse and not fully understood. It projects directly to the spinal cord and therefore may play a role in the direct control of behavior, with a relative emphasis on the trunk muscles of the body. It may also play a role in planning movement, in the spatial guidance of movement, in the sensory guidance of movement, in understanding the actions of others, and in using abstract rules to perform specific tasks. Different subregions of the premotor cortex have different properties and presumably emphasize different functions. Nerve signals generated in the premotor cortex cause much more complex patterns of movement than the discrete patterns generated in the primary motor cortex. Structure The pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
