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Record Number1621
Reference TypeJournal Article
Author(s)Schaal, S.;Sternad, D.;Osu, R.;Kawato, M.
Year2004
TitleRhythmic movement is not discrete
Journal/Conference/Book TitleNature Neuroscience
Keywordsfmri discrete rhythmic movement movement primitives

Abstract

Rhythmic movements, like walking, chewing, or scratching, are phylogenetically old mo-tor behaviors found in many organisms, ranging from insects to primates. In contrast, discrete movements, like reaching, grasping, or kicking, are behaviors that have reached sophistication primarily in younger species, particularly in primates. Neurophysiological and computational research on arm motor control has focused almost exclusively on dis-crete movements, essentially assuming similar neural circuitry for rhythmic tasks. In con-trast, many behavioral studies focused on rhythmic models, subsuming discrete move-ment as a special case. Here, using a human functional neuroimaging experiment, we show that in addition to areas activated in rhythmic movement, discrete movement in-volves several higher cortical planning areas, despite both movement conditions were confined to the same single wrist joint. These results provide the first neuroscientific evi-dence that rhythmic arm movement cannot be part of a more general discrete movement system, and may require separate neurophysiological and theoretical treatment.
Notesclmc
URL(s) http://www-clmc.usc.edu/publications/S/schaal-NatureNeuro2004.pdf
Volume7
Number10
Pages1137-1144
Short TitleRhythmic movement is not discrete
Research Notesее Subjects performed rhythmic and discrete wrist movements in a 4T fMRI scanner. The results demonstrated that rhythmic movement only activated rather few brain regions that can be classified as primary motor areas. Discrete movement, in contrast, activa

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