Ebook: Neural Control of Movement

Presented with a choice of evils, most would prefer to be blinded rather than to be unable to move, immobilized in the late stages of Parkinson's disease. Yet in everyday life, as in Neuroscience, vision holds the centre of the stage. The conscious psyche watches a private TV show all day long, while the motor system is left to get on with it "out of sight and out of mind. " Motor skills are worshipped at all levels of society, whether in golf, tennis, soccer, athletics or in musical performance; meanwhile the subconscious machinery is ignored. But scientifically there is steady advance on a wide front, as we are reminded here, from the reversal of the reflexes of the stick insects to the site of motor learning in the human cerebral cortex. As in the rest of Physiology, evolution has preserved that which has already worked well; thus general principles can often be best discerned in lower animals. No one scientist can be personally involved at all levels of analysis, but especially for the motor system a narrow view is doomed from the outset. Interaction is all; the spinal cord has surrendered its autonomy to the brain, but the brain can only control the limbs by talking to the spinal cord in a language that it can understand, determined by its pre-existing circuitry; and both receive a continuous stream of feedback from the periphery.

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Afferent Mechanisms Isolated Muscle Spindles, Their Motor Innervation and Central Control (M.H. Gladden). Recent Developments in the Physiology of the Mammalian Muscle Spindle (U. Proske). Proprioception: Muscle, Cutaneous and Joint Receptors in Kinaesthesia (D.I. McCloskey). Contribution of Joint Afferents to Proprioception and Motor Control (W.R. Ferrell). Reflexes: Fusimotor Reflexes from Joint and Cutaneous Afferents (P.H. Ellaway). Reflex Performance of the Chronically Isolated Human Spinal Cord (R.H. Baxendale). Locomotion: Reflex Reversal in the Walking Systems of Mammals and Arthropods (K.G. Pearson). Modulation of Stretch Reflexes during Behavior (R.B. Stein et al.). Development: Organization of Spinal Locomotor Networks and Their Afferent Control in the Neonatal Rat (O. Kiehn, O. Kj?rulff). Dual Control of Central Pattern Generators: Neonatal Rat Spinal Cord in vitro (J.R. Cazalets). Cerebellar Mechanisms: The Cerebellum as a Predictive Model of the Motor System: A Smith Predictor Hypothesis (R.C. Miall, D.M. Wolpert). Comparative Studies: Presynaptic Gain Control in a Locust Proprioceptor (M. Burrows et al.). 24 additional articles. Index.

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Afferent Mechanisms Isolated Muscle Spindles, Their Motor Innervation and Central Control (M.H. Gladden). Recent Developments in the Physiology of the Mammalian Muscle Spindle (U. Proske). Proprioception: Muscle, Cutaneous and Joint Receptors in Kinaesthesia (D.I. McCloskey). Contribution of Joint Afferents to Proprioception and Motor Control (W.R. Ferrell). Reflexes: Fusimotor Reflexes from Joint and Cutaneous Afferents (P.H. Ellaway). Reflex Performance of the Chronically Isolated Human Spinal Cord (R.H. Baxendale). Locomotion: Reflex Reversal in the Walking Systems of Mammals and Arthropods (K.G. Pearson). Modulation of Stretch Reflexes during Behavior (R.B. Stein et al.). Development: Organization of Spinal Locomotor Networks and Their Afferent Control in the Neonatal Rat (O. Kiehn, O. Kj?rulff). Dual Control of Central Pattern Generators: Neonatal Rat Spinal Cord in vitro (J.R. Cazalets). Cerebellar Mechanisms: The Cerebellum as a Predictive Model of the Motor System: A Smith Predictor Hypothesis (R.C. Miall, D.M. Wolpert). Comparative Studies: Presynaptic Gain Control in a Locust Proprioceptor (M. Burrows et al.). 24 additional articles. Index.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Isolated Muscle Spindles, their Motor Innervation and Central Control....Pages 3-9
Recent Developments in the Physiology of the Mammalian Muscle Spindle....Pages 11-18
The Human Muscle Spindle and its Fusimotor Control....Pages 19-25
Mechanisms Underlying the Excitation of Muscle Afferents by Suxamethonium....Pages 27-33
Quantitative Aspects of the Use of Succinylcholine in the Classification of Muscle Spindle Afferents....Pages 35-42
Tendon Organ Discharges and their Central Effects During Muscle Contractions....Pages 43-49
Front Matter....Pages 51-51
Muscle, Cutaneous and Joint Receptors in Kinaesthesia....Pages 53-60
Contribution of Joint Afferents to Proprioception and Motor Control....Pages 61-66
Assessing Accuracy of Positioning Joints and Limbs....Pages 67-71
The Behaviour of Cutaneous and Joint Afferents in the Human Hand During Finger Movements....Pages 73-78
Limitations in the Neural Control of Human Thumb and Finger Flexors....Pages 79-85
Front Matter....Pages 87-87
Fusimotor Reflexes from Joint and Cutaneous Afferents....Pages 89-96
Reflex Performance of the Chronically Isolated Human Spinal Cord....Pages 97-102
Enkephalinergic and Monoaminergic Control of Segmental Pathways from Flexor Reflex Afferents (FRA)....Pages 103-108
Can the Sympathetic Nervous System Activation Contribute to “Context-Related” Modulations of the Stretch Reflex?....Pages 109-115
Classical Conditioning of Eyeblink in Decerebrate Cats and Ferrets....Pages 117-122
Front Matter....Pages 123-123
Cellular Bases of Locomotor Behaviour in Lamprey: Coordination and Modulatory Control of the Spinal Circuitry....Pages 125-133
Reflex Reversal in the Walking Systems of Mammals and Arthropods....Pages 135-141
A Locomotor-Related “Autogenetic” Ib Excitation of Hind-Limb Extensor Muscles in the Cat....Pages 143-150
Modulation of Stretch Reflexes During Behaviour....Pages 151-158
Front Matter....Pages 123-123
A Multiple-Level Approach to Motor Pattern Generation....Pages 159-165
The Status of the Premotor Areas: Evidence from PET Scanning....Pages 167-175
Front Matter....Pages 177-177
Organization of Spinal Locomotor Networks and their Afferent Control in the Neonatal Rat....Pages 179-185
Rhythmic Activity Patterns of Motoneurones and Interneurones in the Embryonic Chick Spinal Cord....Pages 187-194
Postembryonic Maturation of a Spinal Circuit Controlling Amphibian Swimming Behaviour....Pages 195-201
Front Matter....Pages 203-211
The Cerebellum as a Predictive Model of the Motor System: A Smith Predictor Hypothesis....Pages 213-213
Signalling Properties of Deep Cerebellar Nuclei Neurones....Pages 215-223
Visual Input to the Lateral Cerebellum....Pages 225-232
Inferior Olive and the Saccadic Neural Integrator....Pages 233-239
Front Matter....Pages 241-249
Presynaptic Gain Control in a Locust Proprioceptor....Pages 251-251
Central and Reflex Recruitment of Crayfish Leg Motoneurones....Pages 253-260
Primitive Role for GABAergic Reticulospinal Neurones in the Control of Locomotion....Pages 261-268
Neuromodulation and Motor Pattern Generation in the Crustacean Stomatogastric Nervous System....Pages 269-275
Mechanosensory Signal Processing: Impact on and Modulation by Pattern-Generating Networks, Exemplified in Locust Flight and Walking....Pages 277-283
Escape and Swimming in Goldfish: A Model System for Studying Interactions Between Motor Networks....Pages 285-294
Back Matter....Pages 295-304
....Pages 305-311