![[Human_motor_cortex.jpg|300]] <p aria-describedby="footnote-label" id="motor-cortex"></p> **Movement planning and execution** are the products of distributed neural processing involving many areas of the brain[1]. ==**The movement initiation** is a function of the motor cortex==, while the coordination and fine-tuning of movements appear to be distributed across several brain centers[2]. **Types of movements[3]** - **Voluntary Movements**: Controlled consciously. - **Rhythmic Movements**: Can be consciously initiated but are primarily autonomously regulated by spinal cord/brainstem circuits. - **Reflexes**: Automatic, stereotyped responses to stimuli, mediated by spinal cord/brainstem (sometimes cortex), and faster than voluntary actions. In primates, the **primary motor cortex** is crucial in control of fine hand and finger movements[1]. Among all the voluntary hand actions, **grasping an object** is one of most common[1]. --- [1]P. Cheney, “Motor Cortex: Output Properties and Organization,” _Encyclopedia of Neuroscience_, vol. 3. pp. 2433–2437, 2009. [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/motor-process#definition [3] https://www.icts.res.in/sites/default/files/seminar%20doc%20files/Chapter%2030_%20Principles%20of%20Sensorimotor%20Control.pdf <footer> <ol> <li id="motor-cortex">credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_cortex</li> </ol> </footer>