Primary motor cortex (M1)
Execution and fine force fractionation.
Anatomy is loop anatomy: cortex proposes, basal ganglia select, cerebellum predicts, spinal cord executes and feeds back.
White-matter highways — corticospinal tract, cerebellar peduncles, hyperdirect STN fibres — carry the timing of skilled action.
Structures
Premotor / SMA
Preparation, sequences and externally vs internally cued action.
Putamen / GPi
Striatal selection and pallidal output gating.
Subthalamic nucleus (STN)
Hyperdirect brake and DBS target in Parkinson’s.
Cerebellar cortex & nuclei
Forward models, timing and adaptive gain.
Spinal motor circuits
Motoneurons, interneurons and CPGs for posture and gait.
Pathways
Corticospinal tract
Direct and indirect routes to spinal motoneurons.
Direct / indirect BG loops
Facilitate or suppress competing actions.
Hyperdirect cortico-STN
Rapid global stop/hold signals.
Cerebello-thalamo-cortical
Timing and error updates to motor cortex.
Landmarks
Homunculus / action maps
Classic and ethological organisations of M1.
Prism / force-field adaptation
Lab windows onto cerebellar learning.
DBS of STN / GPi
Clinical causal probe of BG gating.
Reach–grasp kinematics
Separate transport and grip components.
Open atlas neighbours: M1, putamen, STN, cerebellum.
Sources & research
- Error correction, sensory prediction, and adaptation in motor controlSynthesis of prediction and adaptation in motor control.DOI
- Ethological Action Maps: A Paradigm Shift for the Motor CortexAction-map view of motor cortex organisation.DOI
- The basal ganglia: focused selection and inhibition of competing motor programsCanonical basal-ganglia selection model.DOI
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