movement

movement

1. mirror neurons

   • activation
     • when repeating something someone does[; when watching/reading/hearing about someone making a particular movement (the same one made just prior)
   • used to understand and identify with one another
   • don't form immediately at birth; it's learned

2. Parkinson's Disease

   • symptoms
     • difficulty moving and voluntary movement
     • rigidity; muscle tremors; slow movements
       • starts in the substantia nigra
   • treatments
     • pill treatment (L-dopa--converts into dopamine, temporarily restoring movement
     • sometimes electrode implants if absolutely necessary

3. Huntington's Disease

   • autosomal dominant gene (not on X or Y chromosome)
   • sequence of bases C-A-G repeated 11-24 times in most people
     • you want 35 or less receptors to be considered healthy
     • 36-40 = possible (late onset)
     • 41+ you will be diagnosed (early onset)

4. Basal Ganglia structures

   • putamen
     • motor planning, execution, and learning; specifying movement sequences and amplitudes
   • caudate nucleus
     • planning the execution of movements

5. primary motor cortex

   • spinal cord and brain
     • contralateral tracts
       • lateral
         • controls muscles in the lateral parts of the body (hands and feet)
       • medial
         • controls muscles in the medial parts of the body (trunk and neck)
     • red nucleus
       • controls muscles in the arms

6. antagonistic muscles

   • flexor
     • bring muscles towards self; retracting elbow back in
   • extensor
     • extending muscles out; pushing arm all the way out

7. fiber types

   • fast-twitch
     • running up a hill
     • anaerobic
       • doesn't need oxygen; oxygen debt; using everything up and needing to gain more oxygen in return
     • fast contractions and rapid fatigue
   • slow-twitch
     • walking over to a friend
     • aerobic
       • use oxygen while moving, allowing the body to stay steady and endure
     • less vigorous contractions and no fatigue