Motor output patterns

The cerebellum lies posterior to the brainstem and is separated from it by the fourth ventricle. Anatomically it is divided into two hemispheres, each consisting of three lobes (anterior, posterior, and flocculonodular). The function of the cerebellum is to help plan and coordinate motor activity and to assume responsibility for comparing the actual movement with the intended motor pattern. The cerebellum interprets various sensory input and helps modulate motor output so that the actual movement closely resembles the intended motor program. The cerebellum is also concerned with the vestibular mechanisms responsible for maintaining balance and posture. Therapeutic medications are not usually targeted directly for the cerebellum, but incoordination and other movement disorders may result if a drug exerts a toxic side effect on the cerebellum. 

For any joint or joint complex, muscle performance can be quantified in terms of the basic dimensions of performance strength, speed, endurance, steadiness, and coordination. Muscle strength is the capacity to produce torque or work by voluntary activation of the muscles, whereas muscle endurance is the ability to maintain a predetermined level of motor output — for example, torque, velocity, range of motion, work, or energy — over a period of time. Fatigue is considered to be a process under which the capability of muscles diminish. However, neuromuscular adjustments take place to meet the task demands (i.e., increase in neural excitation) until there is final performance breakdown — endurance time. Coordination, in this context, is the temporal and spatial organizations of movement and the recruitment patterns of the muscle synergies. 

Parnianpour, M., Nordin, M., and Kahanovitz, N. et al. 1988. The triaxial coupling of torque generation of trunk muscles during isometric exertions and the effect of fatiguing isoinertial movements on the motor output and movement patterns. Spine 13 982. 

Information about the motor processes can be measured noninvasively only by the output information of the motor system using motion analysis or EMG. Thus the activation patterns of each muscle have to be regarded as the most detailed sources of information available. From this motor output signal components have to be extracted that do not rely on the movement generation itself, but on movement corrections caused by sensory feedback. 

Solomon IC, Edelman NH, Neubauer JA. Patterns of phrenic motor output evoked by chemical stimulation of neurons located in the pre-Bdtzinger complex in vivo. J Neurophysiol 1999 81 1150-1161. 

Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) A microcomputer-based solid-state control system which receives inputs from user-supplied control devices such as switches and sensors, implements them in a precise pattern determined by instructions stored in the PLC memory, and provides outputs for control or user-supplied devices such as relays and motor starters. 

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