BIOPSYCHOLOGY 8e

John P.J. Pinel

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Topics
8.1 Three Principles of Sensorimotor
Function

8.2 Sensorimotor Association Cortex

8.3 Secondary Motor Cortex

8.4 Primary Motor Cortex

8.5 Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia

8.6 Descending Motor Pathways

8.7 Sensorimotor Spinal Circuits

8.8 Central Sensorimotor Programs

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Three Principles of Sensorimotor Function

• Hierarchical Organization
– Association cortex at the highest
level, muscles at the lowest
– Parallel structure – signals flow
between levels over multiple
paths
• Motor Output is Guided by
Sensory Input
• Learning Changes the Nature
and Locus of Sensorimotor
Control
– e.g. conscious to automatic

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A General Model of Sensorimotor System Function

FIGURE 8.1:
A general model of
the sensorimotor
system

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Sensorimotor Association Cortex

• Posterior parietal
association cortex
• Dorsolateral prefrontal
association cortex
• Each composed of several
different areas with
different functions
• Some disagreement exists
about how to divide the
areas up

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Principles of Sensory System Organization

• Integrates information
about:
• Body part location
• External objects
• Receives visual, auditory,
and somatosensory
information
• Outputs to motor cortex
• Including dorsolateral
prefrontal association
cortex, secondary motor
cortex, and frontal eye field FIGURE 8.2: The major cortical input and
output pathways of the posterior parietal
association cortex

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Damage to the Posterior Parietal Cortex
Apraxia
• Disorder of voluntary
movement – problem only
evident when instructed to
perform an action – usually
a consequence of damage
to the area on the left.
Contralateral neglect
• Unable to respond to
stimuli contralateral to the
side of the lesion – usually
seen with large lesions on
the right.
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Principles of Sensory System Organization

FIGURE 8.3:
Contralateral neglect is
sometimes manifested
in terms of
gravitational
coordinates,
sometimes in terms of
object-based
coordinates.

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Dorsolateral Prefrontal Association Cortex

• Input from posterior

parietal cortex
• Output to secondary
motor cortex, primary
motor cortex, and frontal
eye field
• Evaluates external
stimuli and initiates
voluntary reactions –
supported by neuronal
responses
FIGURE 8.4: The major cortical input and
output pathways of the dorsolateral
prefrontal association cortex

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Secondary Motor Cortex

• Input mainly from

association cortex

• Output mainly to primary

motor cortex

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Identifying the Areas of the Secondary Motor Cortex

At least eight
different areas:
• Three supplementary
motor areas (SMA and
preSMA, and
supplementary eye field)
• Two premotor areas
(dorsal and ventral)
• Three cingulate motor
areas

FIGURE 8.5: Four areas of secondary

motor cortex

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Mirror Neurons

• Active when performing an

action or watching another
perform the same action
• Possible neural basis of social
cognition (knowledge of others’
mental processes – e.g.,
intentions)
• Likely to be found in humans
• Indirect evidence from
functional brain-imaging
studies

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Principles of Sensory System Organization

In monkey studies, mirror neurons

fired while:
• grasping or watching another
grasp a particular object but
not other objects
• grasping or watching another
grasp an object for a specific
purpose but not for another
purpose

FIGURE 8.6: Responses of a mirror

neuron of a monkey

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Primary Motor Cortex

• Precentral gyrus of the

frontal lobe
• Major point of
convergence of cortical
sensorimotor signals
• Major point of departure of
signals from cortex

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Conventional View of Primary Motor Cortex Function

• Somatotopic – more
cortex devoted to body
parts that make complex
movements
– Motor homunculus
• Until recently, each
neuron was thought to
encode the direction of
movement

FIGURE 8.7: The motor

homunculus: the somatotopic
map of the human primary motor
cortex.

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Current View of Primary Motor Cortex Function

• Regions of primary
motor cortex support
initiation of species-
typical movements
• Neurons direct to target
of movement, rather
than simply a pre-coded
direction

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Effects of Primary Motor Cortex Lesions

• Small lesions often with

minimal effects
• Large lesions may disrupt a
patient’s ability to move one
body part independently of
others
• Large lesions may also
produce stereognosia
– deficit in stereognosia
(ability to identify an
object by touch)

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Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia

• Interact with different

levels of the
sensorimotor hierarchy
• Coordinate and modulate
• May permit maintenance
of visually guided
responses despite
cortical damage

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Subject: José Delgado
Claimed a charging bull
could be tamed using
stimulation of its caudate
nucleus
Descending Motor Pathways

Two dorsolateral
• Corticospinal
• Corticorubrospinal
Two ventromedial
• Corticospinal
• Cortico-brainstem-spinal
tract
Both corticospinal tracts are
direct

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 Dorsolateral Tracts

Most synapse on interneurons

of spinal gray matter
Corticospinal – descend
through the medullary
pyramids, then decussate
– Betz cells – synapse on motor
neurons projecting to leg muscles
– Control of wrist, hands, fingers,
toes
Corticorubrospinal –
synapse at red nucleus and
cross before the medulla
– Some control
FIGURE muscles ofdivisions
8.8: The two the face of the
– Distal musclesdorsolateral
of arms motor
and pathway:
legs the
dorsolateral corticospinal tract and the
dorsolateral corticorubrospinal tract.

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 Dorsolateral Tracts

Corticospinal
• Descends ipsilaterally
• Axons branch and innervate
interneuron circuits bilaterally
in multiple spinal segments
Cortico-brainstem-spinal
• Interacts with various brain
stem structures and descends
bilaterally carrying information
from both hemispheres
• Synapse on interneurons of
multiple spinal segments
controlling proximal trunk and
limb muscles
FIGURE 8.9 The two divisions of the ventromedial
motor pathway: the ventromedial corticospinal tract
and the ventromedial cortico-brainstem-spinal tract.

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Comparison on the Two Dorsolateral Motor Pathways
and the Two Ventromedial Motor Pathways

Dorsolateral Ventromedial

• One direct tract, one that
synapses in the brain stem
• Terminate in one
contralateral spinal
segment
• Distal muscles
• Limb movements
• One direct tract, one that
synapses in the brain stem
• More diffuse
• Bilateral innervation
• Proximal muscles
• Posture and whole body
movement

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Sensorimotor Spinal Circuits

Motor circuits of the spinal cord

show considerable complexity

• Independent of signals
from the brain

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Muscles

• Motor units – a motor

neuron plus muscle
fibers; all fibers
contract when motor
neuron fires
• Number of fibers per
unit varies – fine
control, fewer
fibers/neuron
• Muscle – muscle
fibers bound together
by a tendon

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Muscles

• Flexors – bend or flex a

joint
• Extensors – straighten
or extend
• Synergistic muscles –
any two muscles whose
contraction produces
the same movement
• Antagonistic muscles
– any two muscles that
act in opposition

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Receptor Organs of Tendons and Muscles
• Golgi tendon organs
• Embedded in tendons
• Detect muscle tension
• Muscle spindles
• Embedded in muscle tissue
• Detect changes in muscle length
• Intrafusal muscle within each muscle spindle
innervated by its own intrafusal motor neuron

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A General Model of Sensorimotor System Function

FIGURE 8.13: The function of

intrafusal motor neurons

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A General Model of Sensorimotor System Function

• Stretch Reflex: monosynaptic,

serves to maintain limb stability (e.g.,
Patellar tendon reflex is
monosynaptic)
• Withdrawal Reflex is NOT
monosynaptic
• Reciprocal Innervation –
antagonistic muscles interact so that
movements are smooth – flexors are
excited while extensors are inhibited,
etc.
• Recurrent Collateral Inhibition –
feedback loop through Renshaw
cells that gives muscle fiber a rest
after every contraction
• Walking – a complex reflex in some
animals
FIGURE 8.14: The elicitation of a stretch reflex

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A General Model of Sensorimotor System Function

FIGURE 8.17: The excitatory and

inhibitory signals that directly
influence the activity of a motor
neuron.

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Central Sensorimotor Programs

• Perhaps all but the highest

levels of the sensorimotor
system have patterns of
activity programmed into
them, and complex
movements are produced by
activating these programs
• Cerebellum and basal ganglia
then serve to coordinate the
various programs

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Central Sensorimotor Programs Are Capable of
Motor Equivalence
• A given movement can be
accomplished various ways,
using different muscles

• Central sensorimotor
programs must be stored at
a level higher than the
muscle (as different
muscles can do the same
task)

• Sensorimotor programs
may be stored in secondary
motor cortex

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A General Model of Sensorimotor System Function

• Evidence that patients

could respond to visual stimuli
of which they had no
conscious awareness
• Evidence that patients could
not effectively interact with
objects that they consciously
perceived
• Ebbinghaus Illusion:
Conscious perception of disk
size differs from motor
response
FIGURE 8.18: The Ebbinghaus illusion

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The Development of Central Sensorimotor Programs

• Central sensorimotor programs may be hierarchically

organized and capable of using sensory feedback
without direct control at higher levels
• Programs for many species-specific behaviors
established without practice
• Fentress (1973) – mice without forelimbs still
make coordinated grooming motions
• Practice can also generate and modify programs
• Response Chunking
• Shifting Control to Lower Levels

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Functional Brain Imaging of Sensorimotor Learning

Functional brain-imaging studies in humans have generally

supported the findings from more invasive studies of non-
human primates

Figure 8.19: The activity recorded by PET scans during the performance of newly learned and
well-practiced sequences of finder movements (based on Jenkins et al., 1994)

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 Watch: BioFix: Muscle Contraction
Watch: Drumming Without Direct
Cortical Involvement

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Acknowledgments
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Ch08 image Runner ©istockphoto.com/Pete Saloutos

3, 31 book ©istockphoto.com/Carmen Martínez Banús

4 Figure 8.1 Pinel 8e, p. 194

5, 20 person with thought bubble ©istockphoto.com/Digital Savant LLC

5, 10, 18, 24, brain ©istockphoto.com/Stephen Kirklys

32

6 Figure 8.2 Pinel 8e, p. 195

8 Figure 8.3 Pinel 8e, p. 196

9 Figure 8.4 Pinel 8e, p. 197

11 Figure 8.5 Pinel 8e, p. 198

12 man doing one-handed handstand ©iStockphoto.com/Get4Net

13 Figure 8.6 Pinel 8e, p. 199

14 woman observing & taking notes ©istockphoto.com/Claudio Arnese

15 Figure 8.7 Pinel 8e, p. 200

16 person thinking ©istockphoto.com/akurtz

17 child drinking water ©istockphoto.com/VARDHAN

19 paper clip ©istockphoto.com/Jon Patton

19 folder ©istockphoto.com/kyoshino

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Acknowlegments

19 tabletop ©istockphoto.com/Andrew Cribb

21 Figure 8.8 Pinel 8e, p. 204

22 Figure 8.9 Pinel 8e, p. 206

24 back pain ©iStockphoto.com/Mads Abildgaard

25, 26 runners at the line ©istockphoto.com/technotr

27 massage ©iStockphoto.com/Stills

28 Figure 8.13 Pinel 8e, p. 209

29 Figure 8.14 Pinel 8e, p. 210

30 Figure 8.17 Pinel 8e, p. 212

33 Figure 8.18 Pinel 8e, p. 214

34 road w/ trees ©iStockphoto.com/pixonaut

35 Figure 8.19 Pinel 8e, p. 216

36 laptop ©istockphoto.com/CostinT

36 table and wall ©istockphoto.com/David Clark

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