What is your nervous system?
YOUR MOTOR
SYSTEMS
Our brain controls our movements.
Most of our behaviors involve moving.
What are some things
that we do that
do not involving moving?
How do we move?
talks
talk
Brain
Muscles
Your brain tells your muscles to contract.
When muscles contract your body moves.
The part of the brain that makes us
move is our motor cortex.
Frontal Lobe
The map of the motor cortex is known
as the motor homunculus.
Information from the motor cortex
goes to the spinal cord and to the
muscles.
This pathway is known as the pyramidal
system.
Stimulation of the pyramidal system causes
movements.
The right side of our brain moves the
left side of our body and vice versa.
Our muscles talk to our brain…
talk
Brain
Muscles
…to tell us what they are doing.
Our pyramidal system has extra help to
make us move...
…it is called the extrapyramidal system.
Our extrapyramidal system controls…
…if and how… we are going to move.
Our extrapyramidal system controls…
…how fast
….how far
and
…. the direction we move.
Extrapyramidal system
Basal Ganglia
Cerebellum
Our extrapyramidal system consists of
the basal ganglia.
Our basal ganglia helps to plan our
movements.
Touch your nose…..
Finger or tongue?
Our extrapyramidal system also
consists of the cerebellum.
Our cerebellum control how far, how
fast, and the direction we move.
Practice makes perfect...
...because of your extrapyramidal
system.
Our brain also needs information about
the world to produce movments.
Our brain and muscles talk very fast –
and we can measure how fast.
Reaction time
talks
talk
Brain
Muscles
Reaction time measures how fast our
motor pathway works.
On your mark….
Get set…..
Go!!!
YOUR MOTOR
SYSTEMS