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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
Motor Unit Stimulation01:20

Motor Unit Stimulation

When the neuron of a motor unit fires an action potential, it triggers a series of events, leading to a twitch contraction in the muscle fibers. The process of excitation-contraction coupling is crucial in relaying the action potential to the muscle fibers.
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Study Motor Skill Learning by Single-pellet Reaching Tasks in Mice
06:04

Study Motor Skill Learning by Single-pellet Reaching Tasks in Mice

Published on: March 4, 2014

Motor learning transiently changes cortical somatotopy.

Katiuska Molina-Luna1, Benjamin Hertler, Manuel M Buitrago

  • 1Department of General Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.

Neuroimage
|March 11, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Motor cortex map changes reflect learning acquisition, not skill storage. Forelimb representation size reverted to baseline after training cessation, even when the motor skill was retained.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Study Motor Skill Learning by Single-pellet Reaching Tasks in Mice
06:04

Study Motor Skill Learning by Single-pellet Reaching Tasks in Mice

Published on: March 4, 2014

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation
12:33

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Published on: December 31, 2013

Non-Invasive Modulation and Robotic Mapping of Motor Cortex in the Developing Brain
08:26

Non-Invasive Modulation and Robotic Mapping of Motor Cortex in the Developing Brain

Published on: July 1, 2019

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Motor Control
  • Neuroplasticity

Background:

  • Motor skill learning induces changes in the primary motor cortex (M1) representation of trained body parts.
  • These cortical changes are hypothesized to reflect the storage of motor memory traces.
  • Persistence of these changes is expected if they represent the enduring motor memory.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the persistence of learning-related changes in rat forelimb M1 representations after a reaching task.
  • To determine if cortical map modifications correlate with successful skill acquisition and retention.
  • To differentiate between cortical changes associated with skill learning versus skill storage.

Main Methods:

  • Repeated epidural stimulation mapping of the primary motor cortex in rats.
  • Training rats on a forelimb reaching task to assess learning.
  • Comparing M1 forelimb representation size before, during, and after training cessation.

Main Results:

  • Forelimb representations enlarged after 8 days of successful training, while contracting in untrained controls.
  • Enlargement of forelimb representation positively correlated with learning success.
  • After 8 days without training, representation size returned to baseline levels despite retained motor skill.
  • Somatotopy remained stable during a second training phase with no further performance improvement.

Conclusions:

  • Cortical map changes in M1 are associated with the successful acquisition of a motor skill, not its long-term storage.
  • The motor memory trace for skilled movements may involve neural adaptations not detectable by stimulation mapping.
  • These findings challenge the direct link between persistent cortical map changes and motor memory retention.