Michael S. Gazzaniga (ed), 2000
Connections in the Cerebellum
What is a gesture? How many separate gestures are there? In reaching for
a cup, do you use 2 gestures, 5, 20, or 100? Thach, et al., do not give
detailed information on the neuron populations, but they do present a picture
of row upon row of parallel body maps, each of which would correspond to a
particular gesture, each composed of (potential) connections to all motor units.
(See Thach, et al.
).
It seems a safe assumption that the input/output matrix is not fully connected,
but that it could be, in principle. For example, a high-level command to
perform a finger gesture may not activate a motor unit going to a foot muscle,
but if that foot muscle had been used during the times when the finger gesture
was being learned, then a synapse to the foot motor unit could well have formed
at the corresponding matrix point.
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