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Related Concept Videos

Direct Motor Pathways01:11

Direct Motor Pathways

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The direct motor pathways, also known as the pyramidal tracts, are a group of neural pathways that originate in the brain and descend through the spinal cord. They control the voluntary movement of the body. There are two major direct motor pathways: the corticospinal and the corticobulbar tracts.
The corticospinal tract is responsible for the voluntary movement of the limbs and trunk. It originates in the cerebral cortex of the brain and descends through the cerebrum's internal capsule and...
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Hierarchy of Motor Control01:18

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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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Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

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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
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Indirect Motor Pathways01:22

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The indirect motor or extrapyramidal pathways originate in the brainstem, the lower portion of the brain that connects it to the spinal cord. They consist of several distinct tracts, each with specialized functions. The four main tracts of the indirect motor pathways are the vestibulospinal tract, the reticulospinal tract, the tectospinal tract, and the rubrospinal tract.
The vestibulospinal tract originates in the vestibular nuclei of the brainstem. The vestibular system detects changes in...
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Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

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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...
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Motor Units01:13

Motor Units

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The motor unit is a fundamental component of the neuromuscular system and plays a crucial role in coordinating muscle contractions. It consists of a somatic motor neuron, which connects and controls multiple skeletal muscle fibers, forming a single functional segment. The axon of the motor neuron branches out and establishes synaptic connections known as neuromuscular junctions with individual muscle fibers within the motor unit.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 15, 2026

In Vivo Wireless Optogenetic Control of Skilled Motor Behavior
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Motor cortex guides selection of predictable movement targets.

Philip J W Woodgate1, Soeren Strauss1, Saber A Sami2

  • 1Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

Behavioural Brain Research
|April 4, 2015
PubMed
Summary

The motor cortex aids in selecting movement targets by predicting perceptual events. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved performance when targets were predictable and movement-relevant.

Keywords:
AttentionChoice reaching taskMotor cortexPredictabilityTarget selectiontDCS

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Motor Control

Background:

  • Recurrent connections from the motor system to the attentional system may extract movement-relevant perceptual information.
  • The motor cortex can predict sensory consequences of movements and general perceptual events.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the motor cortex's role in prediction-based guidance of target selection.
  • To determine if the motor cortex acts as a general predictor of perceptual events.

Main Methods:

  • A choice reaching task with predictable and unpredictable color targets was used.
  • Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulated motor cortex activity.
  • A key-press experiment assessed movement-relevance.

Main Results:

  • Anodal tDCS facilitated target selection for predictable, movement-relevant targets, improving trajectory curvature.
  • Motor cortex stimulation did not affect performance with unpredictable targets or non-movement-relevant tasks.
  • Reach performance was unaffected by tDCS when target color predictability was absent.

Conclusions:

  • The motor system contributes to the top-down guidance of selective attention towards movement targets.
  • Motor cortex involvement in prediction-based target selection is dependent on the movement-relevance of the predictable target.