Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026
05:05
Assessing Corticospinal Excitability During Goal-Directed Reaching Behavior
Published on: December 2, 2022
Error correction, sensory prediction, and adaptation in motor control.
Reza Shadmehr1, Maurice A Smith, John W Krakauer
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. shadmehr@jhu.edu
Annual Review of Neuroscience
|April 7, 2010
Summary
Organisms use adaptive internal models to solve motor control challenges like noisy sensory feedback and variable movement dynamics. These forward models, updated by sensory prediction errors, ensure accurate, calibrated movements.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Motor control aims for accurate, goal-directed movements.
- Challenges include noisy, delayed sensory feedback and variable motor command-to-movement relationships.
- The motor system must adapt to internal and external changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the motor system achieves accurate goal-directed movements.
- To explore the role of adaptive internal models in motor control.
- To understand how forward models are calibrated.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of motor control problems.
- Review of evidence for adaptive internal models (forward models).
- Examination of motor adaptation driven by sensory prediction errors.
Main Results:
- Adaptive internal models, specifically forward models, are proposed as a solution to motor control challenges.
- Forward models transform motor commands into predicted sensory consequences.
- Motor adaptation, driven by sensory prediction errors, calibrates these forward models.
Conclusions:
- Forward models are crucial for producing calibrated movements throughout life.
- These models enhance the sensory system's ability to estimate body and world states.
- Continuous calibration via motor adaptation ensures the reliability of forward model predictions.
Related Concept Videos
01:07Time-Domain Interpretation of PD Control
Proportional-Derivative (PD) control is a widely used control method in various engineering systems to enhance stability and performance. In a system with only proportional control, common issues include high maximum overshoot and oscillation, observed in both the error signal and its rate of change. This behavior can be divided into three distinct phases: initial overshoot, subsequent undershoot, and gradual stabilization.
Consider the example of control of motor torque. Initially, a positive...
Consider the example of control of motor torque. Initially, a positive...
01:10Control Systems
Control systems are everywhere in contemporary society, influencing diverse applications from aerospace to automated manufacturing. These systems can be found naturally within biological processes, such as blood sugar regulation and heart rate adjustment in response to stress, as well as in man-made systems like elevators and automated vehicles. A control system is essentially a network of subsystems and processes that collaboratively convert specific inputs into desired outputs.
At the heart...
At the heart...
01:18Hierarchy of Motor Control
The hierarchy of motor control refers to the different levels of organization and processing involved in controlling movement in the body. These levels range from higher cortical areas involved in planning and decision-making to lower spinal cord reflexes that respond automatically to external stimuli.
01:14Motor 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.
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.
01:28Major Somatic Sensory Pathways
Sensory impulses related to touch, pressure, vibration, and proprioception from various body parts, such as the limbs, trunk, neck, and posterior head, travel to the cerebral cortex through the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway. The pathway’s name derives from the two white-matter tracts that convey the impulses: the spinal cord's posterior column and the brainstem's medial lemniscus. First-order sensory neurons extend their axons into the spinal cord, forming the posterior columns...
01:22Controller Configurations
Controller configurations are crucial in a car's cruise control system because they manage speed over time to maintain a consistent pace regardless of road conditions, thereby meeting design goals. In traditional control systems, fixed-configuration design involves predetermined controller placement. System performance modifications are known as compensation.
Control-system compensation involves various configurations, most commonly series or cascade compensation, in which the controller aligns...
Control-system compensation involves various configurations, most commonly series or cascade compensation, in which the controller aligns...