- Our motor cortices help to facilitate the movements of our body in different ways
- There are two motor cortices: 
- Primary Motor Cortex (referred to as M1) 
- Nonprimary motor cortex (which contains the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor area), is anterior to M1 

Motor Cortices

- A motor system that goes from the forebrain to the spinal cord and brainstem
- Includes the basal ganglia and cerebellum (structures of the brain)
- These structures send messages to the spinal cord through the reticulospinal tract and the rubrospinal tract

Extrapyramidal System 

Alzheimer's disease is a specific type of dementia characterized as an irreversible, progressive brain disorder, which is understood to have a genetic basis. It gradually destroys memory and cognitive skills, eventually impairing the ability to perform simple tasks like walking, talking, and eating. This severe cognitive decline is associated with the formation of plaques in the brain resulting from cell death.

Alzheimer's Disease

- When thinking about how a behavior is initiated, researchers have questioned whether it is reflexive (meaning it is caused by a chain of events without intentionality) or planned (which is defined by a motor plan)

Sequence of Initiating Behavior 

- Similarly to engineering, in order to control movement, the body must take into account two needs: accuracy and speed 
- Two types of control mechanisms (closed and open loop) are able to prioritize one of these needs when controlling movement 

Control Systems for Movement 

- Motor neurons control the beginning, end, and organization of muscle movement  
- The spinal cord is involved in motor neuron input
- Therefore, in order to understand how movement is coordinated, the spinal cord's organization (as well as ways in which its disrupted/ how it interacts with the brain) must be understood

Spinal Cord in Controlling Body Movement

- Movement disorders can be caused by disorders of the brain, including the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and cortex

Brain Disorders and Motor Impairment 

- Behavioral view of reflexes
- Control systems for accuracy vs speed
- Spinal cord's role in controling body movement
- Motor cortexes
- Extrapyramidal systems role in motor commands
- Brain disorders and motor impairments

Grinnell College

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

- Sensory Processing, Touch, Pain
- Hearing, Vestibular Perception
- Taste
- Smell
- Vision
- Motor Control and Plasticity

Neuroscience of Perception and Action

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Sensory receptors such as eyes or taste buds develop differently in different species. Sensory processing refers to the ways the brain integrates information received from sensory receptors in order to process appropriate behavioral or cognitive response. 

- Sensory organs
- Stimuli
- Receptor Cells
- Touch and the skin
- Pain
- Sensory processing disorder
- Synesthesia

Sensory processing, touch and pain

Taste is a chemical sense

- The five basic tastes
- How taste functions

Taste

Chemicals in the air trigger odor sensation

- receptors in the nose
- transmission to brain regions
- anosmia

Smell

Motor Control 

People's experience is shaped by the sensory experience, which relies on other senses to process information. This is crossmodality. The interactions between senses change how the other senses are processed. For example, the interactions of sight and somatosensation is proprioception. This is only true in sighted individuals, and blind individuals have different ways of proprioception. Plasticity of the brain allows crossmodality to be effective. 
Crossmodality can both enhance and hinder sensory expereinces and how people perceive the world.

Crossmodality of the senses

- How hearing functions in the ear
- Auditory signals
- Hearing loss
- Vestibular perception
- Vestibular system

Hearing and Vestibular perception

People tend to use a high amount of visual information to inform their daily activities. There is also a lot of sensory information coming in through the eyes, which makes the visual system a highly researched field of neuroscience. 

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