The brain in its body: motor control and sensing in a biomechanical context.

Full Abstract

Although it is widely recognized that adaptive behavior emerges from the ongoing interactions among the nervous system, the body, and the environment, it has only become possible in recent years to experimentally study and to simulate these interacting systems. We briefly review work on molluscan feeding, maintenance of postural control in cats and humans, simulations of locomotion in lamprey, insect, cat and salamander, and active vibrissal sensing in rats to illustrate the insights that can be derived from studies of neural control and sensing within a biomechanical context. These studies illustrate that control may be shared between the nervous system and the periphery, that neural activity organizes degrees of freedom into biomechanically meaningful subsets, that mechanics alone may play crucial roles in enforcing gait patterns, and that mechanics of sensors is crucial for their function.

Author information

Author/s: Chiel, Hillel J (HJ); Ting, Lena H (LH); Ekeberg, Orjan (O); Hartmann, Mitra J Z (MJ);

Affiliation: Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7080, USA. hjc(-atsign-)case.edu

Grants: HD-046922 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS) ; NS-053822 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS) ; NS047073 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.; Review

Journal: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience (J Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 29 (issue 41) : pp 12807-14

Dates: Created 2009/10/15; Completed 2009/10/30;

PMID: 19828793, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/30/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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