SENSORIMOTOR AND COORDINATION

Assessment of sensorimotor and coordination is an important part of the behavioral studies. Indeed, behaviors result from the integration of environmental sensory stimuli and their conversion within the central nervous system into motor commands.

The notion of brain-body-environment interaction refers to causal effects. Simplistically, sensory inputs causally affect motor outputs, and these motor outputs in turn causally affect sensory inputs. Such “perception-action loops” is crucial to any biological organism or artificial system that possesses the ability to react to the environment. Integration of the sensory perception and motor output occurs in the cerebellum and the basal ganglia. Both structures project by many neural pathways to the motor cortex, which commands movements to the muscles, and to the spinocerebellar tract, which provides feedback on the position of the body in space (proprioception). Consequently, cerebellum and basal ganglia are responsible of smooth, coordinated movements and a disturbance of either system will show up as disorders in fine movements, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning, as observed in Parkinson’s or Huntington’s diseases.

Studying neurobiological mechanisms of these common diseases is therefore essential to find efficient therapeutic strategies. To do so, various behavioral tasks have been developed in laboratory rodent models and... [more]

Assessment of sensorimotor and coordination is an important part of the behavioral studies. Indeed, behaviors result from the integration of environmental sensory stimuli and their conversion within the central nervous system into motor commands.

The notion of brain-body-environment interaction refers to causal effects. Simplistically, sensory inputs causally affect motor outputs, and these motor outputs in turn causally affect sensory inputs. Such “perception-action loops” is crucial to any biological organism or artificial system that possesses the ability to react to the environment. Integration of the sensory perception and motor output occurs in the cerebellum and the basal ganglia. Both structures project by many neural pathways to the motor cortex, which commands movements to the muscles, and to the spinocerebellar tract, which provides feedback on the position of the body in space (proprioception). Consequently, cerebellum and basal ganglia are responsible of smooth, coordinated movements and a disturbance of either system will show up as disorders in fine movements, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning, as observed in Parkinson’s or Huntington’s diseases.

Studying neurobiological mechanisms of these common diseases is therefore essential to find efficient therapeutic strategies. To do so, various behavioral tasks have been developed in laboratory rodent models and are largely validated. Moreover, because behavioral experiments typically measure motor coordinated responses to sensory information, assessment of these abilities is required for the interpretation of results of experiments designed to assess other neurobiological processes.

EXPERIMENTAL TESTS