Simple act of reaching

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A note for Lesson no. 2, "Your Brain Is a Network," in Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett.
Some context from page 38–39 is:

Even a simple reaching action [...] can be guided by different sets of neurons.

A simple action, like moving your arm to grasp an object, is actually very complex event under the hood. Chapters 19, 33, 34, 37 and 38 in Principles of Neural Science, 5th edition, describe some of the basics of what is known about how the brain control limb movements.[1][2][3][4][5]

To read about how a simple grasping motion can actually be implemented with different trajectories of hand movements, each of which can be implemented with different patterns of joint movements at the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and so on, see chapter 33 of Principles of Neural Science[2] and also Mussa-Invaldi & Bizzi.[6]


References

  1. Rizzolatti, Giacomo, and Peter L. Strick. 2013. "Cognitive Functions of the Premotor Systems" In Principles of Neural Science, edited by Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell, Steven A. Siegelbaum, and A.J. Hudspeth, 412–425. New York: McGraw Hill Medical.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Wolpert, Daniel J., Keir G. Pearson, and Claude P. J. Ghez. 2013. "The Organization and Planning of Movement" In Principles of Neural Science, edited by Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell, Steven A. Siegelbaum, and A.J. Hudspeth, 743–765. New York: McGraw Hill Medical.
  3. Enoka, Roger M., and Keir G. Pearson. 2013. "The Motor Unit and Muscle Action" In Principles of Neural Science, edited by Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell, Steven A. Siegelbaum, and A.J. Hudspeth, 768–789. New York: McGraw Hill Medical.
  4. Kalaska, John F., and Giacomo Rizzolatti. 2013. "Voluntary Movement: The Primary Motor Cortex" In Principles of Neural Science, edited by Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell, Steven A. Siegelbaum, and A.J. Hudspeth, 835–864. New York: McGraw Hill Medical.
  5. Rizzolatti, Giacomo, and John F. Kalaska. 2013. "Voluntary Movement: The Parietal and Premotor Cortex" In Principles of Neural Science, edited by Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell, Steven A. Siegelbaum, and A.J. Hudspeth, 865–893. New York: McGraw Hill Medical.
  6. Mussa-Ivaldi, Ferdinando A., and Emilio Bizzi. 2000. "Motor Learning Through the Combination of Primitives." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 355 (1404): 1755–1769.