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Hierarchy of Motor Control

Hierarchy 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.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 19, 2026

The Impact of Motor Task Conditions on Goal-Directed Arm Reaching Kinematics and Trunk Compensation in Chronic Stroke Survivors

The Impact of Motor Task Conditions on Goal-Directed Arm Reaching Kinematics and Trunk Compensation in Chronic Stroke Survivors

Published on: May 2, 2021

Individual differences in motor planning during a multi-segment object manipulation task.

Christian Seegelke¹, Charmayne M L Hughes, Christoph Schütz

¹Neurocognition and Action Research Group, Faculty of Psychology and Sport Sciences, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany. christian.seegelke@uni-bielefeld.de

Experimental Brain Research

|August 14, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Humans plan movements considering future comfort, optimizing motor control. This study shows how end-state comfort influences grasp selection in multi-step tasks, impacting preceding actions.

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The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task

The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task

Published on: May 3, 2018

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Last Updated: May 19, 2026

The Impact of Motor Task Conditions on Goal-Directed Arm Reaching Kinematics and Trunk Compensation in Chronic Stroke Survivors

The Impact of Motor Task Conditions on Goal-Directed Arm Reaching Kinematics and Trunk Compensation in Chronic Stroke Survivors

Published on: May 2, 2021

The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task

The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task

Published on: May 3, 2018

Area of Science:

Motor control and cognitive neuroscience
Human-computer interaction
Biomechanics and ergonomics

Background:

Humans often adopt initial awkward movements if they lead to more comfortable final postures.
This end-state comfort effect suggests anticipatory planning of future body states.
Understanding this effect is crucial for designing intuitive human-robot interactions and assistive technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how the final goal of a task influences motor planning of earlier segments.
To determine if grasp postures are planned to optimize end-state comfort in a multi-segment action.
To explore the continuous range of grasp postures available to participants.

Main Methods:

Participants performed a three-segment action: opening a drawer, grasping an object, and placing it on a table.
The object placement required one of three target orientations (0°, 90°, or 180° rotation).
Grasp postures and movement segments were analyzed to assess planning strategies.

Main Results:

Initial grasp postures (drawer opening) were not affected by the final object orientation.
Intermediate (grasping) and final (placing) movement segments were significantly influenced by the target orientation.
For a 180° rotation task, 42% prioritized intermediate comfort, while 58% prioritized end-state comfort.

Conclusions:

Motor planning adapts to optimize task completion, with constraint selection influenced by context.
End-state comfort is a significant factor in motor planning, especially for complex actions.
The balance between immediate and future comfort influences strategy selection in human movement.