TY - JOUR
T1 - Modular organization of motor behavior in the frog's spinal cord
AU - Bizzi, Emilio
AU - Giszter, Simon F.
AU - Loeb, Eric
AU - Mussa-Ivaldi, Fernando A.
AU - Saltiel, Philippe
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by NIH grant NS09343 and by ONR grant NO0014/90/J/I 946.
PY - 1995/10
Y1 - 1995/10
N2 - The complex issue of translating the planning of arm movements into muscle forces is discussed in relation to the recent discovery of structures in the spinal cord. These structures contain circuitry that, when activated, produce precisely balanced contractions in groups of muscles. These synergistic contractions generate forces that direct the limb toward an equilibrium point in space. Remarkably, the force outputs, produced by activating different spinal-cord structures, sum vectorially. This vectorial combination of motor outputs might be a mechanism for producing a vast repertoire of motor behaviors in a simple manner.
AB - The complex issue of translating the planning of arm movements into muscle forces is discussed in relation to the recent discovery of structures in the spinal cord. These structures contain circuitry that, when activated, produce precisely balanced contractions in groups of muscles. These synergistic contractions generate forces that direct the limb toward an equilibrium point in space. Remarkably, the force outputs, produced by activating different spinal-cord structures, sum vectorially. This vectorial combination of motor outputs might be a mechanism for producing a vast repertoire of motor behaviors in a simple manner.
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U2 - 10.1016/0166-2236(95)94494-P
DO - 10.1016/0166-2236(95)94494-P
M3 - Review article
C2 - 8545910
AN - SCOPUS:0029127003
SN - 0166-2236
VL - 18
SP - 442
EP - 446
JO - Trends in Neurosciences
JF - Trends in Neurosciences
IS - 10
ER -