The motor system plays the violin: a musical metaphor inferred from the oscillatory activity of the α-motoneuron pools during locomotion
2011 ◽
Vol 105
(4)
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pp. 1429-1431
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Keyword(s):
Despite substantial advances in the field, particularly resulting from physiological studies in animals, the neural mechanisms underlying the generation of many motor behaviors in humans remain unclear. A recent study (Cappellini G et al. J Neurophysiol 104: 3064–3073, 2010) sheds more light on this topic. Like the string of a violin, the α-motoneuron pools in the spinal cord during locomotion show continuous and oscillatory patterns of activation. In this report, the implications and relevance of this finding are discussed in a general framework that includes neurophysiology, optimal control theory, and robotics.
Keyword(s):
2007 ◽
Vol 31
(7)
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pp. 2168-2195
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2005 ◽
Vol 414
(1-3)
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pp. 204-209
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Keyword(s):
Keyword(s):