Movement is arguably the most fundamental and important function of the nervous system. Purposive movement requires the coordination of actions within many areas of the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, basal ganglia, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves and sensory receptors, which together must control a highly complex biomechanical apparatus made up of the skeleton and muscles. Beginning at the level of biomechanics and spinal reflexes and proceeding upward to brain structures in the cerebellum, brainstem and cerebral cortex, the chapters in this book highlight the important issues in movement control. Commentaries provide a balanced treatment of the articles that have been written by experts in a variety of areas concerned with movement, including behaviour, physiology, robotics, and mathematics.
This book is concerned with the involvement of the cerebellum in learning and remembering the ability to carry out motor tasks such as walking, riding a bicycle, and speaking. Processes of plasticity have been identified at the cellular level in the cerebellum that could underlie the learning of motor tasks but whether they actually have such a role is controversial. This book is unique in bringing together studies of plasticity at the cellular level with studies of plasticity or learning at the behavioral level and in attempting to build bridges between these two levels of discourse. The book will appeal to neuroscientists and physiologists interested in the neural control of movement.
