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Indirect Motor Pathways

Indirect Motor Pathways

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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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Published on: April 16, 2014

Body and visual instabilities functionally modulate implicit reaching corrections.

Naotoshi Abekawa¹, Kenji Doya², Hiroaki Gomi¹

¹NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Kanawaga, 243-0198, Japan.

|January 2, 2023

Summary

Prior postural and visual instability influences quick manual responses. Unstable contexts enhance reactions to visual motion, while random motion weakens them, revealing a link between remote states and sensorimotor processing.

Keywords:

Cognitive neuroscience Neuroscience Sensory neuroscience

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Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control

Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control

Published on: September 11, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Motor Control
Human Sensorimotor Systems

Background:

Hierarchical models often assume voluntary action modulates direct sensorimotor processes.
Quick reactions are typically viewed as direct sensorimotor outputs.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how remote postural and visual contexts modulate rapid visuomotor responses.
To explore the influence of preceding instability on manual movement reactions.

Main Methods:

Experimental manipulation of preceding postural and visual instability contexts.
Measurement of reflexive manual responses to visual motion during hand reaching.
Application of Bayesian optimal formulation to explain observed modulations.

Main Results:

An unstable postural context significantly enhanced reflexive manual responses to visual motion.
A preceding random-visual-motion context markedly weakened these responses.
Modulations were consistent with a Bayesian model of compensatory responses to estimated self-motion.

Conclusions:

Quick visuomotor processes are modulated by remote, prior contextual states.
Findings suggest an implicit mechanism linking remote state uncertainty to sensorimotor transformation.
The brain integrates contextual information to optimize rapid motor responses.