Introduction: In recent years, optical imaging has attracted a lot of attention from scholars as a non- aggressive, efficient method for evaluating the activities of the motor cortex in the brain. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS (is a tool showing the hemodynamic changes in a cortical area of the brain according to optical principles. The present study has been de...

A diverse array of biomechanical systems has evolved to satisfy locomotor requirements (reptation, swimming, walking, etc.) and in all cases, successful behabior achievement requires the integrated functioning of various segments, to ensure the appropriate positioning of the different body regions. From comparative studies on a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate organisms, it is now establi...

During normal rostral scratching in the spinal turtle, there is rhythmic alternation between hip-flexor and hip-extensor motor activity. During rostral scratching with hip-extensor deletions, there are successive bursts of hip-flexor motor activity and no activity in hip-extensor motor neurons. We characterized the ON- and OFF-phases of 72 descending propriospinal interneurons with distinct act...

Certain brain areas involved in interval timing are also important in motor activity. This raises the possibility that motor activity might influence interval timing. To test this hypothesis, we assessed interval timing in healthy adults following different types of training. The pre- and post-training tasks consisted of a button press in response to the presentation of a rhythmic visual stimul...

In the developing nervous system, ordered neuronal activity patterns can occur even in the absence of sensory input and to investigate how these arise, we have used the model system of the embryonic chicken spinal motor circuit, focusing on motor neurons of the lateral motor column (LMC). At the earliest stages of their molecular differentiation, we can detect differences between medial and lat...

for years, the role of cerebellum was believed to be limited to motor functions. only since almost two decades ago, a new concept about cerebellum and its contribution to non-motor functions including cognition and emotion started to emerged. during the recent years, numerous studies have focused on the cerebellar non-motor functions with their results providing supportive evidence on this view...