INFORMATION

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PROGRAM

Spinal reflexes: miotatic reflex, muscle spindle and postural tone; di-sinaptic reflex; polisinaptic reflex and its possible role in walking. Brainstem reflexes: the vestibular system and the vestibulo-ocular  reflex; the superior colliculus and the orienting reflex. Descending control of sensory afferents: the saccadic suppression. Somaesthesia: sensory transduction, classification and type of receptors, coding of intensity, duration, location and modality of sensory stimuli; receptive fields, acuity, sensory pathways, somatosensory cortex, cortical plasticity. Subdivision, properties, organization and functions of primary and associative regions of the cerebral cortex.  Voluntary movement: types of movements and their control by sensory feedback; motor equivalence. Cortico-spinal systems: pyramidal and extrapyramidal ones. Cortical organization of movement: primary motor and premotor areas; mirror neurons. Motor function of the posterior parietal cortex; fronto-parietal network and channels for action and for perception. Basal ganglia: direct and indirect pathways for the generation of voluntary movement. Cerebellum: subdivisions and their role in motor control.

SUGGESTED BOOKS:

PRINCIPLES OF NEUROSCIENCE, by Kandel & Schwarz, Elsevier

or any language version of: 
FUNDAMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE, by Squire et al., Academic Press.
NEUROSCIENZE, di D. Purves et al. Zanichelli
NEUROSCIENZE, Esplorando il cervello, di M.F. Bear, et al., Masson-Elsevier

!!! Students who want their final mark to be registerd, have to send an email to battagli@units.it !!!