Neurotransmitter synthesis is regulated by a variety of factors, yet the effect of altering transmitter content on the operation of neuronal circuits has been relatively unexplored. We used electrophysiological, electrochemical, and immunohistochemical techniques to investigate the effects of augmenting the serotonin (5-HT) content of identified serotonergic neurons embedded in a simple motor c...

Rhythmic and discrete movements are frequently considered separately in motor control, probably because different techniques are commonly used to study, and model, them. Yet, an increasing appeal for a comprehensive model of movement generation requires to bridge the different perspectives arising from the study of those two types of movements. In this article, we consider discrete and rhythmic...

Observation of others' actions evokes in primary motor cortex and spinal circuits of observers a subliminal motor resonance response, which reflects the motor program encoding observed actions. We investigated the role of attention in human motor resonance with four experimental conditions, explored in different subject groups: in the first explicit condition, subjects were asked to observe a r...

Rhythmic behaviours such as breathing, walking or flying are now understood to be generated by the interplay between patterns of neural activity generated in the central nervous system and sensory inputs. Many of the pioneering insights into the generation and control of rhythmic motor patterns were made by studying the neural circuits generating the locust flight motor pattern. Malcolm Burrows...

the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a selected motor program (as a motor experience) on manipulative skills in 4-6-year-old boys. 40 subjects were selected randomly using a personal information questionnaire. after the pretest, the ulrich's test of gross motor development (2000) including fundamental motor skills, locomotors skills, manipulative skills and controllin...

Agonist motor neurons usually alternate between activity and quiescence during normal rhythmic behavior; antagonist motor neurons are usually active during agonist motor neuron quiescence. During an antagonist deletion, a naturally occurring motor-pattern variation, there is no antagonist activity and no quiescence between successive bursts of agonist activity. Motor neuron recordings of normal...

In this issue of Neuron, Deschênes et al. (2016) propose that rhythmic inhibition of whisker motor neurons is a key pattern generator underlying exploratory whisking. The inhibitory premotor neurons located in the brainstem reticular formation are synchronized by breathing-related oscillators.