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Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

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....

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation

Published on: December 31, 2013

Motor cortex activity predicts response alternation during sensorimotor decisions.

Anna-Antonia Pape^1,2, Markus Siegel¹

¹University of Tübingen, Department CIN &MEG Center, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience &MEG Center, Otfried-Müller-Str 25, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.

Nature Communications

|October 8, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Motor cortex activity predicts upcoming decisions and influences response selection, revealing a bias towards alternating choices in sensorimotor tasks. This suggests the motor cortex actively shapes decisions, not just executes them.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Motor Control

Background:

The motor cortex is traditionally considered the final output stage for executing motor responses based on sensory decisions.
Its potential role in actively influencing or shaping response selection remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether motor cortex activity impacts response selection beyond simple motor execution.
To explore the predictive power of motor cortex activity fluctuations on upcoming decisions in a visuomotor task.

Main Methods:

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to measure activity fluctuations over the motor cortex.
Analysis focused on activity unrelated to choice content but predictive of responses seconds before decisions.
The influence of previous trial responses on current motor cortex activity and response alternation was examined.

Main Results:

Activity fluctuations in the motor cortex, independent of choice content, predicted visuomotor task responses seconds in advance.
These fluctuations were significantly influenced by the preceding trial's response.
Motor cortex activity predicted a tendency to switch response alternatives in consecutive trials, dependent on residual neural signals.

Conclusions:

The study uncovers a response-alternation bias in sensorimotor decision-making.
Findings suggest the motor cortex plays a more active role in shaping response selection, rather than merely executing pre-determined decisions.
Motor cortex activity fluctuations contribute to decision-making processes by influencing response alternation.