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posted by mrpg on Tuesday February 19 2019, @09:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the clap-your-hands dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Spinal cord is 'smarter' than previously thought: Research shows our spinal cords contribute to sophisticated hand function

It is well known that the circuits in this part of our nervous system, which travel down the length of our spine, control seemingly simple things like the pain reflex in humans, and some motor control functions in animals.

Now, new research from Western University has shown that the spinal cord is also able to process and control more complex functions, like the positioning of your hand in external space.

"This research has shown that a least one important function is being done at the level of the spinal cord and it opens up a whole new area of investigation to say, 'what else is done at the spinal level and what else have we potentially missed in this domain?'" said the study's senior and supervising researcher Andrew Pruszynski, PhD, assistant professor at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Canada Research Chair in Sensorimotor Neuroscience.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by ledow on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:59PM (1 child)

    by ledow (5567) on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:59PM (#803512) Homepage

    Hell, I have been able to drive hundreds of miles while my brain was doing something else (not intentionally and not distracted by something you shouldn't be doing, you understand, but have you never had the "Oh, I don't even *remember* the last few junctions at all...". Almost every driver I know has had those moments, especially on long drives).

    There's no way my brain is involved in quite a lot of the things that go on - it doesn't really do anything at all about the gut - that manages itself and just tells the brain if something is wrong.

    The body is not run by the brain. The brain co-ordinates dozens of other systems that otherwise operate autonomously, yet it is *probably* responsible for much of the higher functions on its own.

    That doesn't mean that the spine isn't just an extension of the brain, either. It just happens to deal with things only relevant if those same parts of the body are working (i.e. if you've broke your spine at a certain point, the spine may have done things like control your limbs... and so now it doesn't really matter that you can't control the limbs no matter *who* was in control of them, because neither can the brain or anyone else).

    It doesn't have to be operated by neurons, it doesn't have to be entirely independent, it doesn't have to even be connected to the spine itself (e.g. it could communicate via hormonal release). But parts of our body certainly operate of their own accord, the heart doesn't need to be told to speed up by something else, but it can follow that order if it's given it. The gut doesn't need to be instructed to evacuate itself, or get certain things out of the food, but it can signal pain to the brain if there's something wrong. Similarly, the spine doesn't need to be told how to move limbs in a "muscle-memory" action, but it can take hints when given.

    You would literally fall over or injure yourself if you just left your brain to do walking - it can't respond quick enough to a stumble on its own. But equally you would fall over if you just left your spine to do the job, because it doesn't have the sensory perception to deal with anything unusual that occurs or involves prediction of the environment.

    People wishing to draw lines down any biological diagram are inherently susceptible to being surprised. It just doesn't work like that. We're several trillion cells, nerves, neurons and whatever else that have always been intimately entwined with each other and are only successful because that's true. Millions of years of evolution means that the lines are so blurred, we don't even know what some organs are for and/or suspect that they all may have multiple functions beyond the main one.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 23 2019, @08:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 23 2019, @08:22PM (#805743)

    Driving uses visual information; your visual cortex is in your brain; there are no known eye-spine side channels.

    You have non-conscious operations in your skull. Don't asume that everything your brain does, you are aware of with your conscious mind. Patently false, as your examples hint.