Our athlete, John, is engaging in the motor task of setting a volleyball over a net. He is not encumbered by non-regulatory environmental constraints since the sun is hidden on this cloudy day and there are no spectators to distract, cheer, or make him nervous. John’s movement must conform to the regulatory environmental constraints regarding the size, shape, and velocity of the ball. He is moving to get into position (a mobility constraint) somewhere on a smooth, yet irregular, sandy surface to get planted over his base of support (a stability constraint). John must move his hands deftly and skillfully (a manipulation constraint) to contact and release the ball.
Each component of the motor control system is extremely dependent on the sensory …show more content…
A static guided tour through the process might look like the following: John’s dorsolateral prefrontal cortex prepares the plans setting the volleyball. Simultaneously, the visual, auditory, somatic, and proprioreceptive information provided by John’s sensory organs converge on his posterior parietal cortex to determine his body's position in space and the volleyball’s location in the external environment by converting the sensory data into a set of intrinsic coordinates. Strong neural circuitry makes the DLPFC and PPC highly interconnected and communication between the two regions represents the executive level of the sensorimotor hierarchy. John’s cortex relays the movement goal with the subcortical nuclei of the basal ganglia to strategically gate muscle activity via selective initiation/inhibition. Next, the premotor cortex and supplementary motor area coordinate with the cerebellum to specify the precise sequence of contractions of the various muscles that will be required to set the volleyball over the net. A motor command is generated in the primary motor cortex (M1) coding how much force each muscle group must exert is sent down the axons of giant pyramidal neurons originating in M1 to John’s brainstem where 90% will decussate below the medulla before continuing down the spinal cord. The signal triggers coordinated movement via muscle synergies and with the help of the cerebellum. Commands sent from the brainstem to the spinal cord enable the postural adjustments that will keep John balanced. Motor neurons within John’s brainstem will also be activated to keep his eyes on the
Each component of the motor control system is extremely dependent on the sensory …show more content…
A static guided tour through the process might look like the following: John’s dorsolateral prefrontal cortex prepares the plans setting the volleyball. Simultaneously, the visual, auditory, somatic, and proprioreceptive information provided by John’s sensory organs converge on his posterior parietal cortex to determine his body's position in space and the volleyball’s location in the external environment by converting the sensory data into a set of intrinsic coordinates. Strong neural circuitry makes the DLPFC and PPC highly interconnected and communication between the two regions represents the executive level of the sensorimotor hierarchy. John’s cortex relays the movement goal with the subcortical nuclei of the basal ganglia to strategically gate muscle activity via selective initiation/inhibition. Next, the premotor cortex and supplementary motor area coordinate with the cerebellum to specify the precise sequence of contractions of the various muscles that will be required to set the volleyball over the net. A motor command is generated in the primary motor cortex (M1) coding how much force each muscle group must exert is sent down the axons of giant pyramidal neurons originating in M1 to John’s brainstem where 90% will decussate below the medulla before continuing down the spinal cord. The signal triggers coordinated movement via muscle synergies and with the help of the cerebellum. Commands sent from the brainstem to the spinal cord enable the postural adjustments that will keep John balanced. Motor neurons within John’s brainstem will also be activated to keep his eyes on the