The motor cortex was taught to ‘control movement. But new research shows that it is solely responsible for corrective movements, in response to unexpected changes in sensory inputs.
Normal movements are however controlled by circuits spanning throughout the central nervous system from the cortex to the spinal cord. The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Basel and the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI). They found that motor cortex is only necessary for movement control when movements are executed in response to unexpected sensory feedback.