When motor cortex instructs the spinal cord to move a limb in a specific direction, a...

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Medical Sciences

When motor cortex instructs the spinal cord to move a limb in aspecific direction, a large number of neurons in the motor cortexfire action potentials. Despite the activity of many neurons,movement is performed in a single, well-defined direction. How dothe firing rates of the population of neurons in the motor cortexspecify well-defined movements (e.g., a specific direction)?

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Most motor cortical neurons were found to have specific preferred directions in which their mean firing rate during reaching movement was maximal Some studies showed that the activity of cortical neurons correlated with torques at joints and muscle tensions or with other kinematic variables It has also been suggested that the activity of a particular cortical neuron may correlate with more than one movement parameter Although many previous studies addressed these phenomena see for review the origin of the directional tuning properties See Answer

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