Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Day 6: Speed of Light Rail

Today marked the first day I used public transit on my own! Despite what its name suggests, the Light Rail does not travel the speed of light. It wasn't very exciting, but it does feel nice having a little more independence. I took a bus ride downtown to where my dad works then took the Light Rail all the way to ASU's Tempe campus.

So what did I learn today? I finally finished that article I started Monday. It studies the significance of the primary motor cortex in humans. The primary motor cortex is located in the green area of the image of the human brain below.


The motor cortex is also labeled as M1 in many instances. The primary motor cortex is the key component for the "storage and processing of new motor information" (Muellbacher et al. 643).

Now remember in my post, "Day 2: An Unexpected Turn," how I mentioned we hypothesized that the PMd and PMv are responsible for force application and positioning, respectively. What I highlighted above in the brain picture are those two areas in the brain. The red is the PMd. The blue PMv. I'd just like to point out a problem that could occur during the experiment. Notice how the PMd (red) is very close to M1 (primary motor cortex). Because of this, instead of stimulating the PMd, which is a small area in the brain, the motor cortex would be stimulated.

There's so much to say about my project that it's really hard for me to only post twice a week, but at the same time, I don't want to overwhelm you, my beloved readers. I will be in Chicago Thursday and Friday so today is the last day of this week I will be in the lab. I'll be back Monday. Thank you for reading!

References:
  1. Muellbacher, W., Ziemann, U., Wissel, J., Dang, N., Kofler, M., Facchini, S., Boroojerdi, B., Poewe, W., Hallett, M. Early consolidation in human primary motor cortex. Nature. [Online] 2002. 415, 640-644. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v415/n6872/full/nature712.html

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting Alison! Is there any methodology that the lab is using to prevent stimulating the motor cortex erroneously?

    Also, I thought the point of the project was to stimulate the motor cortex... so why would this be a problem?

    btw, you are welcome to post as many blogs per week as you'd like.

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    Replies
    1. We try again until we find the area. The stimulation neither causes pain nor physically damages the subject. The chair has a cushion for the neck to rest, a holder the subject's head to stay still, and a holder for the TMS coil to stay near the head. Once we find the area, we don't have a problem finding it again. The chair is also adjustable so that the subject is able to reach the object without moving the upper body.

      There is another experiment I was able to be a part of that I think I mentioned in Day 2. This other experiment will be stimulating the PMd and the PMv to see if those are the locations of the brain responsible for force application and position. Should I re-mention these facts rather than refer back to posts?
      I was a bit confused as to what my senior project will actually be focusing on, but it has been determined that I will be focusing more on the motor cortex rather than these two areas. Sorry for the confusion!

      Thanks!

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