Spatial maps for the control of movement

Author
Publication Year
1998

Type

Journal Article
Abstract
Neurons in the ventral premotor cortex of the monkey encode the locations of visual, tactile, auditory and remembered stimuli. Some of these neurons encode the locations of stimuli with respect to the arm, and may be useful for guiding movements of the arm. Others encode the locations of stimuli with respect to the head, and may be useful for guiding movements of the head. We suggest that a general principle of sensory-motor integration is that the space surrounding the body is represented in body-part-centered coordinates. That is, there are multiple coordinate systems used to guide movement, each one attached to a different part of the body. This and other recent evidence from both monkeys and humans suggest that the formation of spatial maps in the brain and the guidance of limb and body movements do not proceed in separate stages but are closely integrated in both the parietal and frontal lobes.
Journal
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
195-201
ISSN Number
0959-4388
Alternate Journal
Curr. Opin. Neurobiol.
PMID
9635202
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