Thanks to our brain we can plan, eat, run and even smile, it is thanks to the complex and fascinating functions of the motor cortex of the brain that we are able to perform various actions of our daily life. our brain that helps us control, execute and plan movement.
In addition, it also allows us to react to a stimulus, which is fundamental to our survival, but this part of our brain does not act alone. These movements can occur through various connections and associations with other areas of our body.
- Throughout the article we will see: what its location is and what its structures and functions are.
- We will also see associated pathologies when there is an injury or when it does not work properly we will explore the motor cortex.
- Also called motor skills.
The motor cortex is one of the parts of the telencephalus, which in turn is part of the brain and its main function is to promote movement. Thus, through it, we generate, maintain and finish movements.
Thanks to the motor cortex we can perform voluntary movements consciously, this cerebral region is located in the frontal lobe, right in front of the Rolando fissure and the somatosensory region.
This region consists of a representation called Penfield’s homoncula, it is a representation of the area of the brain where there is an indication of the size of the parts of the cerebral cortex that relate to each part of the body, for example, the hands, tongue and face are wide because they have a high sensitivity and, therefore, a large area of the brain dedicated to their sensations and movements.
The motor cortex integrates several areas through which movement is possible, let’s see below:
Injury in this part of the brain can have serious consequences, as it is necessary for most of the actions we perform daily, some problems related to injuries in this part of the cortex are:
Research into how the motor cortex works is constant and that’s why it’s constantly updated, it’s through it that we want to find answers that help determine how to repair the area after an injury. As an example, Bunkerot and his colleagues published an investigation. in 2018 in the Scientific Journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience that shows some of this research.
In this article, the group begins by showing the importance of the motor cortex for movement, showing the adaptive plasticity of the motor cortex after reconstruction of movement in tetraplegic individuals, the surgical methodology they present is a window to cortical neuroplasticity, after recovery of arm and hand function.
These neuroscience discoveries help us understand how the bark responds to wounds and treatments, it’s the beginning of a path to finding definitive solutions to cortical damage, which is why it’s so important.
Therefore, we come to the conclusion that the motor cortex is the main responsible for our movement, without it we would not be able to perform the actions to which we are accustomed and we want to do, through its encodings and connections sends and receives signals to and from different parts of our body.
In this way, it provides us with conscious voluntary movements and, therefore, we can relate to the world around us at the motor level.