BIOELECTRICAL ASPECTS OF SENSORIMOTOR INTEGRATION - DISCUSSION OF OWNRESULTS AND LITERATURE DATA

Sensorimotor integration was studied on the base of three separate typ es of bioelectrical phenomena in the nervous system and their changes in different behavioural situations: Enhancement of the Bereitschaftsp otential (BP) and the contingent negative variation (CNV) by the incom ing stimuli; a supposed role of SEPs in sensorimotor integration with a voluntary movement; modulation of human long-latency reflexes depend ing on instruction and task. - The results showed facilitation of both the H-reflexes and the BP during the preparatory period of a voluntar y flexion of the fingers. Similar changes were found during developmen t of the CNV. The slow potential shifts represent an excitatory state of the cortex and facilitate the start of a motor act. - Further exper iments indicated that the movement gating process of sensory informati on seems to affect the input not only to the sensory cortex, but also to the motor cortex and might play, together with an enhancing effect on N 18 component of SEPs produced by movement, a significant role in sensorimotor integration and motor control. - The long-loop phenomena mediated, at least partly. via transcortical pathways, function as the interface between central sensorimotor structures and neuro-muscular periphery.