37 Chapter 10: Discussion Questions / Chapter Assignments

Chapter 10 questions

1. List 3 voluntary movements you make each day.
2. Which lobes of the brain are included in the dorsal stream, and in what order would you expect activation to happen within these areas if the dorsal stream is activated?
3. Once again we see the cerebellum referred to as the “little brain”. Is this name appropriate? Why or why not?
4. Describe the route a signal to produce voluntary movement would take, from association cortex to the muscle (i.e., name the anatomical structures the message would pass through, in the correct order).
5. Describe what mirror neurons are hypothesized to do and why they are not likely to exist.
6. Describe a fictitious scenario in which a voluntary movement might benefit from sensory feedback, and how the sensory feedback makes it to the motor cortex in order to improve the movement.
7. What morphological (shape) feature of the cerebrum can also be found at the neuromuscular junction? Why is this feature advantageous in both contexts?
8. Name a cell type that can be found in the cerebellum. Describe its inputs and outputs.
9. Name the three functional regions of the cerebellum, describe their location within the cerebellum, and write one sentence about each regions’ function.
10. Draw and label a diagram of the cells and cell layers of the cerebellum, including the input layer, output layer, a granule cell, a Purkinje cell, a deep cerebellar nuclei, the connections between the latter 3 items, and whether those connections are inhibitory or excitatory.
11. Consider the figure of the connectivity of the basal ganglia. Describe in words the connections between the striatum and the globus pallidus.
12. The basal ganglia “fine-tunes” motor output. Referring to the figure of the connectivity of the basal ganglia, describe one pathway that might mediate this fine-tuning.
13. One part of the GP inhibits movements and the other promotes movement. Refer to the figure of the connectivity of the basal ganglia to determine which part does which, and explain how you know.
14. Compare and contrast the cause(s), symptom(s), and treatment(s) of any two movement disorders.

Note: Many of these questions (Questions 4-14) were developed by, or with the assistance of, students in the PSYC 232 class of Winter 2025.