QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, October 14, 2009, 29(41):12807-12814; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3338-09.2009

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Chiel, H. J. Articles by Hartmann, M. J. Z. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Chiel, H. J. Articles by Hartmann, M. J. Z.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Symposia and Mini-Symposia
The Brain in Its Body: Motor Control and Sensing in a Biomechanical Context

Hillel J. Chiel,^1,2,3 Lena H. Ting,⁴ Örjan Ekeberg,⁵ and Mitra J. Z. Hartmann^6,7

¹Departments of Biology, ²Neurosciences, and ³Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7080, ⁴Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0535, ⁵Department of Computational Biology, School of Computer Science and Communication, Royal Institute of Technology S-10044 Stockholm, Sweden, and ⁶Departments of Biomedical and ⁷Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Hillel J. Chiel, Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, 2080 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106-7080. Email: hjc{at}case.edu

Although it is widely recognized that adaptive behavior emerges from the ongoing interactions among the nervous system, the body, and the environment, it has only become possible in recent years to experimentally study and to simulate these interacting systems. We briefly review work on molluscan feeding, maintenance of postural control in cats and humans, simulations of locomotion in lamprey, insect, cat and salamander, and active vibrissal sensing in rats to illustrate the insights that can be derived from studies of neural control and sensing within a biomechanical context. These studies illustrate that control may be shared between the nervous system and the periphery, that neural activity organizes degrees of freedom into biomechanically meaningful subsets, that mechanics alone may play crucial roles in enforcing gait patterns, and that mechanics of sensors is crucial for their function.

---

Received July 10, 2009; revised Aug. 4, 2009; accepted Aug. 17, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Hillel J. Chiel, Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, 2080 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106-7080. Email: hjc{at}case.edu

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help