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Abstract:
(Invited Talks)
Recently, great strides have been made in understanding the
neural foundations of motor behavior. Through the combined efforts
of biologists, computer scientists, physicists, and engineers, a
picture has begun to emerge of the way in which the nervous system
regulates movement. The goal of my presentation is to explain what
neuroscience has established so far about how the central nervous
system (CNS) deals with the complex dynamics of our limbs as they
interact with a variable and often unpredictable environment. I
will review how scientists have approached the study of movement,
the problems they have encountered, and the solutions they have
proposed. Specifically, I will focus 1) on the ways in which the
CNS may produce the forces necessary to generate movements, and 2)
on the issue of motor learning. I will show how motor memories may
be represented, stored, and retrieved through the formation of
internal models of limb dynamics. 3) I will discuss the utilization
of this knowledge for motor rehabilitation in patients affected by
stroke and brain injury.
Professor Emilio Bizzi is the Eugene McDermott Professor in the
Brain Sciences and Human Behavior. His research is directed toward
the understanding of movement control in biological systems and the
neural substrate for motor learning. Dr. Bizzi obtain his M.D. from
the University of Rome, and came to MIT in 1969. Dr. Bizzi has been
the Director of Whitaker College of Health Sciences, Technology,
and Management (1983-89) and Head of the Department of Brain and
Cognitive Sciences (1986-97). He is a member of the National
Academy of Sciences (1986) and the American Academy of Sciences
(1980).
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