Motor planning
Specify goals, trajectories and grasp types.
Functionally, control is hierarchical and parallel: goals bias synergies that bias muscles, with continuous sensory prediction.
Network percentages below are editorial teaching emphasis, not BOLD percentages from one study.
Processes
Action selection
Choose among competing motor programs.
Feedforward drive
Launch predicted commands before feedback.
Error correction
Online and trial-by-trial updates from sensory mismatch.
Postural stabilisation
Anticipatory and reactive balance adjustments.
Skill consolidation
Offline gains after practice, often sleep-dependent.
Networks
Corticospinal execution90
Basal-ganglia selection78
Cerebellar prediction72
Premotor / SMA sequencing65
Spinal CPG / reflex40
Corticospinal execution
Force and fractionation for skilled distal control.
Basal-ganglia selection
Gate and invigorate chosen actions.
Cerebellar prediction
Forward models and timing precision.
Premotor / SMA sequencing
Prepare and order multi-step actions.
Spinal CPG / reflex
Rhythmic and rapid stabilising primitives.
Examples
Catching a falling phone
Fast visual prediction plus grasp synergy.
Learning a tennis serve
Trial-by-trial cerebellar and striatal updates.
Stopping at a red light
Hyperdirect STN hold overrides ongoing drive.
Walking on ice
Impedance and reflex gain rise for stability.
Compare radar scores with Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia pages.
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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